BIRDS AT DUSK. 247 



shone, he indulged himself in a sunning, erecting 

 the feathers of his chin till he looked as if he 

 wore a black muffler, opening his tail like a fan, 

 spreading and crossing his wings over the back. 

 This attitude made a complete change in his 

 looks, showing white where black should be, 

 and vice versa. This was the result of his pe- 

 culiar coloring. Next the skin all feathers were 

 the common slate-color, but outside of that each 

 feather was black and white. On the back the 

 black was at the tip, and the white between 

 that and the slate-color ; on the breast this order 

 was reversed, and the white at the tip. Thus 

 when wet the white and black were confused, 

 and he resembled an object in patch-work. 

 The rose-colored shield was formed by the 

 slightest possible tips of that color on the white 

 ends, and it was wonderful that they should ar- 

 range themselves in an unbroken figure, with a 

 sharply defined outline, for each feather must 

 have lain in its exact place to secure the result. 

 The different ways in which birds greet ad- 

 vancing night has long been a subject of inter- 

 est to me, some restless and nervous, others 

 calm, and a few wild and apparently frightened. 

 In no one thing is there more individuality of 

 action, and in my room that winter were exhib^ 

 ited every evening quite a variety of methods. 

 A brown thrush or thrasher on the approach 



