58 CHARACTER MW FEATHERS. 
sonality produces upon different observers. In 
matters of this kind every judgment is largely 
“a question of emphasis and proportion; and, 
moreover, what we find in our friends depends 
in great part on what we have in ourselves. 
This I do not forget; and therefore I foresee 
that others will discover in the birds of whom I 
write many things that I miss, and perhaps will 
miss some things which I have treated as patent 
or even conspicuous. It remains only for each 
to testify what he has seen, and at the end to 
confess that a soul, even the soul of a bird, is 
after all a mystery. 
Let our first example, then, be the common 
black-capped titmouse, or chickadee. He is, par 
excellence, the bird of the merry heart. There 
is a notion current, to be sure, that all birds are 
merry ; but that is one of those second-hand 
opinions which a man who begins to observe for 
himself soon finds it necessary to give up. 
With many birds life is a hard struggle. Ene- 
mies are numerous, and the food supply is too 
often scanty. Of some species it is probable 
that very few die in their beds. But the chick- 
adee seems to be exempt from all forebodings. 
His coat is thick, his heart is brave, and, what- 
ever may happen, something will be found to 
eat. ‘Take no thought for the morrow” is his 
creed, which he accepts, not “ for substance of 
