24 
WOOD THRUSH. 
feed, as the Mistle Thrush, Jurdns viscivorus, is said to do on those of 
Viscum album. It is found in almost every part of the United States, 
growing chiefly on oaks and apple-trees. 
WOOD THRUSH. 
Turdus mustelinus, Gmel . 
PLATE CXLIY. — Male and Female. 
Kind reader, you now see before you my greatest favorite of the feathered 
tribe of our woods. To it I owe much. How often has it revived my 
drooping spirits, when I have listened to its wild notes in the forest, after 
passing a restless night in my slender shed, so feebly secured against the 
violence of the storm, as to show me the futility of my best efforts to 
rekindle my little fire, whose uncertain and vacillating light had gradually 
died away under the destructive weight of the dense torrents of rain that 
seemed to involve the heavens and the earth in one mass of fearful murkiness, 
save when the red streaks of the flashing thunderbolt burst on- the dazzled 
eye, and, glancing along the huge trunk of the stateliest and noblest tree in 
my immediate neighbourhood, were instantly followed by an uproar of 
crackling, crashing, and deafening sounds, rolling their volumes in tumultu- 
ous eddies far and near, as if to silence the very breathings of the unformed 
thought ! How often, after such a night, when far from my dear home, and 
deprived of the presence of those nearest to my heart, wearied, hungry, 
drenched, and so lonely and desolate as almost to question myself why I was 
thus situated, when I have seen the fruits of my labours on the eve of being 
destroyed, as the water, collected into a stream, rushed through my little 
camp, and forced me to stand erect, shivering in a cold fit like that of a 
severe ague, when I have been obliged to wait with the patience of a martyr 
for the return of day, trying in vain to destroy the tormenting moschettoes, 
silently counting over the years of my youth, doubting perhaps if ever again 
I should return to my home, and embrace my family ! — how often, as the 
first glimpses of morning gleamed doubtfully amongst the dusky masses of 
the forest-trees, has there come upon my ear, thrilling along the sensitive 
cords which connect that organ with the heart, the delightful music of this 
