106 
TURDUS MELODUS. 
snake, snapping his bill ; the snake would then draw 
himself quickly into a coil, ready for a blow ; hut the 
bird would cautiously circumvent him at a little distance, 
now and then running up to, and snapping at him ; but 
keeping at a sufficient distance to avoid a blow. After 
some minutes, it became a running fight, the snake 
retreating ; and, at last, he took shelter in the wall. The 
cat bird had young ones in the bushes near the field 
of battle. 
“ This may shew the possibility of poisonous snakes 
biting birds ; the operation of the poison causing them 
to become, as it were, fascinated.” 
91 . TURDUS MELODUS, WILSON. — T. MUSTELINUS, GMELIN. 
WOOD THRUSH. 
WILSON, PLATE II. FIG. I. 
This bird measures eight inches in length, and thirteen 
from tip to tip of the expanded wings ; the bill is 
an inch long, the upper mandible, of a dusky brown, 
bent at the point, and slightly notched ; the lower, a 
flesh colour towards the base ; the legs are long, and, 
as well as the claws, of a pale flesh colour, or almost 
transparent. The whole upper parts are of a brown 
fulvous colour, brightening into reddish on the head, 
and inclining to an olive on the rump and tail ; chin, 
white ; throat and breast, white, tinged with a light 
buff colour, and beautifully marked with pointed spots 
of black or dusky, running in chains from the sides of 
the mouth, and intersecting each other all over the 
breast to the belly, which, with the vent, is of a pure 
white; a narrow circle of white surrounds the eye, 
which is large, full, the pupil black, and the iris of a 
dark chocolate colour ; the inside of the mouth is 
yellow. The male and female of this species, as, indeed, 
of almost the whole genus of thrushes, differ so little 
as scarcely to be distinguished from each other. It is 
called by some the wood robin, by others the ground 
