62 CHARACTER@N FEATHERS. 
and it would not be surprising if he sometimes 
raised the question, “Is life worth 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), yét the lis- 
tener cannot help smiling now and then; the 
very finest passage is followed sosuddenly 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 
