28 
WOOD THRUSH. 
in October, and may be distinguished from the true song thrush 
( Turdus melodus) by the spots being much broader, brown, 
and not descending so far below the breast. It is also an inch 
shorter, with the cheeks of a bright tawny colour. Mr William 
Bartram, who transmitted this bird, 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, ( Turdus 
melodus ,) but the tawny cheeked species above mentioned. 
This 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 chicken which has lost 
its mother. This very bird I found numerous in the myrtle 
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 ( Turdus musicus) had, at some time after the creation, 
rambled round by the northern ocean, and made its way to 
America ; that, advancing to the south, it had there (of conse^ 
quence) become degenerated by change of food and climate, 
so that its cry is now harsh and unpleasant, 66 as are the cries 
of all birds that live in wild countries inhabited by savages.”* 
* Buffon, vol. iii. 2S9. The figure in PI. enl. 398, has little or no 
resemblance to the wood thrush, being of a deep green olive above, and spotted 
to the tail below with long streaks of brown. 
