CHARACTER IN FEATHERS. 59 
doctrine,” but literally. No matter how bitter 
the wind or how deep the snow, you will never 
find the chickadee, as the saying is, under the 
weather. Itis this perennial good humor, I sup- 
pose, which makes other birds so fond of his 
companionship ; and their example might well 
be heeded by persons who suffer from fits of de- 
pression. Such unfortunates could hardly do 
better than to court the society of the joyous tit. 
His whistles and chirps, his graceful feats of 
climbing and hanging, and withal his engaging 
familiarity (for, of course, such good-nature as 
his could not consist with suspiciousness) would 
most likely send them home in a more Christian 
mood. The time will come, we may hope, 
when doctors will prescribe bird-gazing instead 
of blue-pill. 
To illustrate the chickadee’s trustfulness, I 
may mention that a friend of mine captured one 
in a butterfly-net, and, carrying him into the 
house, let him loose in the sitting-room. The 
little stranger was at home immediately, and 
seeing the window full of plants, proceeded to 
go over them carefully, picking off the lice with 
which such window-gardens are always more or 
less infested. A little later he was taken into 
my friend’s lap, and soon he climbed up to his 
shoulder; where, after hopping about for a few 
minutes on his coat-collar, he selected a com- 
