62 CHARACTER IN FEATHERS. 



and it would not be surprising if he sometimes 

 raised the question, " Is life wortli living? " It 

 is the worst feature of his case that his melan- 

 choly is not of the sort which softens and re- 

 fines the nature. There is no suggestion of 

 saintliness about it. In fact, I am convinced 

 that this long-tailed thrush has a constitutional 

 taint of vulgarity. His stealthy, underhand 

 manner is one mark of this, and the same thing 

 comes out again in his music. Full of passion 

 as his singing is (and we have hardly anything 

 to compare with it in this regard), yet the lis- 

 tener cannot help smiling now and then ; the 

 very finest passage is followed so suddenly by 

 some uncouth guttural note, or by some whim- 

 sical drop from the top to the bottom of the 

 scale. 



In neighborly association with the brown 

 thrush is the towhee bunting, or chewink. The 

 two choose the same places for their summer 

 homes, and, unless I am deceived, they often 

 migrate in company. But though they are so 

 much together, and in certain of their ways 

 very much alike, their habits of mind are widely 

 dissimilar. The towhee is of a peculiarly even 

 disposition. I have seldom heard him scold, or 

 use any note less good-natured and musical than 

 his pleasant cherawink. I have never detected 

 him in a quarrel such as nearly all birds are 



