74 CHARACTER @M 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.” 
