74 CHARACTER IN FEATHERS. 



nothing but whisper, while the second is so 

 loud and voluble ? Why is one bird belligerent 

 and another peaceable ; one barbarous and an- 

 other civilized ; one grave and another gay ? 

 Who can tell ? We can make here and there a 

 plausible conjecture. We know that the be- 

 havior of the blue jay varies greatly in different 

 parts of the country, in consequence of the dif- 

 ferent treatment which he receives. We judge 

 that the chickadee, from the peculiarity of his 

 feeding habits, is more certain than most birds 

 are of finding a meal whenever he is hungry ; 

 and that, we are assured from experience, goes 

 a long way toward making a body contented. 

 We think it likely that the brown thrush is at 

 some special disadvantage in this respect, or has 

 some peculiar enemies warring upon him ; in 

 which case it is no more than we might expect 

 that he should be a pessimist. And, with all 

 our ignorance, we are yet sure that everything 

 has a cause, and we would fain hold by the 

 brave word of Emerson, " Undoubtedly we 

 have no questions to ask which are unanswer- 

 able." 



