116 
WOOD THRUSH. 
more than fifty years ago, to Mr. Edwards, by whom it was 
drawn and engraved, examined the two species in my presence; 
and on comparing them with the one in Edwards, was satisfied 
that the bird there figured and described is not the Wood 
Thrush ( 2\irdus melodus,) but the tawny-cheeked speciesabove 
mentioned. This species I have never seen in Pennsylvania 
but in spring and fall. It is still more solitary than the former, 
and utters, at rare times, a single cry, similar to that of a chick- 
en which has lost its mother. This very bird I found numerous 
in the INIyrtle swamps of Carolina in the depth of winter, and 
I have not a doubt of its being the same which is described by 
Edwards and Catesby. 
As the count de Buffon has drawn his description from those 
above mentioned, the same observations apply equally to what 
he has said on the subject; and the fanciful theory which this 
writer had formed to account for its want of song, vanishes into 
empty air; viz. that the Song Thrush of Europe ( Turdiis mus- 
icus) had, at some time after the creation, rambled round by the 
Nothern ocean, and made its way to America; that advancing 
to the south it had there (of consequence) become degenerated 
by change of food and climate, so that its cry is now harsh and 
unpleasent, “ as are the cries of all birds that live in wild coun- 
tries inhabited by savages.”* 
For a figure and description of this passenger Thrush see the 
following species. 
* Buffon, vol. iii, 289. The figure in PI. Enl. 398, has little or no resem- 
blance to the Wood Thrush, being" of a deep gi-een olive above, and spotted 
to the very vent, with long streaks of brown. 
