110 
TURDUS MELODUS. 
perpetually serenades us with some of the sweetest 
notes, and as clear as those of the nightingale. I have 
followed it for miles, without ever but once getting a 
good view of it. It is of the size and make of the 
mocking bird, lightly thrush coloured on the back, and 
a greyish white on the breast and belly. Mr , 
my son-in-law, was in possession of one, which had been 
shot by a neighbour ; he pronounced it a muscicapa , 
and I think it much resembles the Mouche rolle de la 
Martinique , 8 Buffon, 374, pi. enlum. 568. As it 
abounds in all the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, you 
may, perhaps, by patience and perseverance, (of which 
much will be requisite,) get a sight, if not a possession, 
of it. I have, for twenty years, interested the young 
sportsmen of my neighbourhood to shoot me one, but, 
as yet, without success.” 
It may seem strange that neither Sloane,* Catesby, 
Edwards, nor Buffon, all of whom are said to have 
described this bird, should say any thing of its melody ; 
or rather, assert that it had only a single cry or scream. 
This I cannot account for in any other way than by 
supposing, what I think highly probable, that this bird 
has never been figured or described by any of the 
above authors. 
Catesby has, indeed, represented a bird, which he 
calls turdus minimus ,f but it is difficult to discover, 
either from the figure or description, what particular 
species is meant ; or whether it be really intended for 
the wood thrush we are now describing. It resembles, 
he says, the English thrush,* but is less, never sings, 
has only a single note, and abides all the year in 
Carolina. It must be confessed, that, except the first 
circumstance, there are few features of the wood thrush 
in this description. Though it is believed that some of 
our birds of passage, and, among them, the present 
species, winter in the Carolinas, yet they rarely breed 
there ; and when they do, they are certainly vocal. If 
Mr Catesby, therefore, found the bird mute during 
spring and summer, it was not the wood thrush, other- 
* Hist. Jam. ii, 305. f Catesby’s Nat. Hist. Car. i, 31. 
