''THESE ARE YOUR BROTHERS:' 209 



panic. All is tranquil repose, yet without a 

 symptom of dullness. A stranger may approach 

 a thrush, and he will neither flinch nor fidget 

 until the observer becomes intrusive, when he 

 calmly and quietly slips away. Opposed to 

 this high-bred manner is that of the redwing 

 blackbird, who, never still a moment, is restless 

 and uneasy to the last degree ; jumping from 

 perch to perch, stretching one wing and then 

 the other, jerking the tail, craning the neck, 

 ever assuming new attitudes, and showing in 

 every movement his unquiet spirit. 



Different from each of the above in manner 

 is the cat-bird. There is an appearance of 

 grave repose, but it is superficial ; it is the re- 

 pose of the air before a tornado, of the volcano 

 before a violent eruption. He is quiet, — he 

 stands as still as a thrush, and looks one full in 

 the eye ; but he is alert to the tips of his toes, 

 and a slight but significant jerk of the tail 

 shows that he is wide awake and prepared for 

 instant movement. Let him suspect one's in- 

 tention to be hostile, and he will flash out of 

 sight ; not silently, like the thrush, but with 

 harsh screams that fairly startle one with their 

 violence. 



To find rude, blustering, self-assertive man- 

 ners we need go no farther than our city streets, 

 which the house-sparrow has made his own. 



