American Ornithology: Volume 1.

WOOD THRUSH. (Turdus melodus.)

That I may not seem singular in my estimation of this bird, I shall subjoin an extract of a letter from a distinguished American gentleman, to whom I had sent some drawings, and whose name, were I at liberty to give it, would do honour to my humble performance, and render any further observations on the subject from me unnecessary.

“As you are curious in birds, there is one well worthy your attention, to be found, or rather heard, in every part of America, and yet scarcely ever to be seen. It is in all the forests from spring to fall, and never but on the tops of the tallest trees, from which it 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 grayish 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, Pl. 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,[3] Catesby, Edwards, nor Buffon, all of whom are said to have described this bird, should say anything 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 mininius,[4] 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. I have searched the woods of Carolina and Georgia in winter for this bird in vain, nor do I believe it ever winters in these States. If Mr Catesby found his bird mute during spring and summer, it was not the wood thrush, otherwise he must have changed his very nature. But Mr Edwards has also described and delineated the little thrush,[5] and has referred to Catesby as having drawn and engraved it before. Now this thrush of Edwards I know to be really a different species; one not resident in Pennsylvania, but passing to the north in May, and returning the same way 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 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 consequence) become degenerated by change of food and climate, so that its cry is now harsh and unpleasant, “as are the cries of all birds that live in wild countries inhabited by savages”.[6]


[3] Hist. Jam. ii. 305. [return]

[4] Catesby’s Nat. Hist. Car., i. 31. [return]

[5] Edwards, 296. [return]

[6] Buffon, vol. iii. 289. The figure in Pl. 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.[return]