26 AN IDLER ON MISSIONARY RIDGE. 



to fear from a comparison with Bachman's 

 finch or any other. What a contrast in this 

 respect between him and his gentle-seeming 

 but belligerent and tuneless cousin whom 

 we call " chippy." 1 Here, likewise, were a 

 pair of complaining Carolina wrens and an 

 Acadian flycatcher. A thrush excited my 

 curiosity, having the look of a gray-cheek, 

 but showing a buff eye-ring; and while I 

 was coaxing him to whistle, and so declare 

 himself, often a ready means of identifica- 

 tion, and preferable on all accounts to shoot- 

 ing the bird, there came a furious out- 

 burst from the depths of the brier patch, 

 with a grand flurry of wings : a large bird 

 and two smaller ones engaged in sudden 

 battle, as well as I could make out. At 

 the close of the melee, which ended as ab- 

 ruptly as it had begun, the thicket showed 

 two wrens, a white-throated sparrow, and a 

 female cardinal. The cardinal flew away; 

 the affair was no business of hers, ap- 

 parently; but in a minute she was back 

 again, scolding. Then, while my back was 

 turned, everything became quiet ; and on my 



1 If I could have my way, lie should be known as the 

 doorstep sparrow. The name would fit him to a nicety. 



