72 CHARACTER # FEATHERS. 
on by sons of Adam, and, after all deductions 
are made, the claim of the Hylocichle to noble 
blood can never be seriously disputed. I have 
spoken of the four together, but each is clearly 
distinguished from all the others; and this I 
believe to be as true of mental traits as it is of 
details of plumage and song. No doubt, in 
general, they are much alike ; we may say that 
they have the same qualities ; but a close ac- 
quaintance will reveal that the qualities have 
been mixed in different proportions, so that the 
total result in each case is a personality strictly 
unique. 
And what is true of the Hylocichle is true 
of every bird that flies. Anatomy and dress 
and even voice aside, who does not feel the dis- 
similarity between the cat-bird and the robin, 
and still more the difference, amounting to con- 
trast, between the cat-bird and the bluebird ? 
Distinctions of color and form are what first 
strike the eye, but on better acquaintance these 
are felt to be superficial and comparatively un- 
important; the difference is not one of outside 
appearance. It is his gentle, high-bred manner 
and not his azure coat, which makes the blue- 
bird ; and the cat-bird would be a cat-bird in 
no matter what garb, so long as he retained his 
obtrusive self-consciousness and his prying, 
busy-body spirit ; all of which, being inter- 
