CHARACTER IN FEATHERS. 63 



once in a while guilty of, ungracious as it may 

 seem to mention the fact ; nor have I ever seen 

 him hopping nervously about and twitching his 

 tail, as is the manner of most species, when, for 

 instance, their nests are approached. Nothing 

 seems to annoy him. At the same time, he is 

 not full of continual merriment like the chicka- 

 dee, nor occasionally in a rapture like the gold- 

 finch. Life with him is pitched in a low key ; 

 comfortable rather than cheerful, and never 

 jubilant. And yet, for all the towhee's careless 

 demeanor, you soon begin to suspect him of 

 being deep. He appears not to mind you ; he 

 keeps on scratching among the dry leaves as if 

 he had no thought of being driven away by 

 your presence ; but in a minute or two you look 

 that way again, and he is not there. If you 

 pass near his nest, he makes not a tenth part of 

 the ado which a brown thrush would make in 

 the same circumstances, but (partly for this 

 reason) you will find half a dozen nests of the 

 thrush sooner than one of his. With all his 

 simplicity and frankness, which puts him in 

 happy contrast with the thrush, lie knows as 

 well as anybody how to keep his own counsel. 

 I have seen him with his mate for two or three 

 days together about the flower-beds in the Bos- 

 ton Public Garden, and so far as appeared they 

 were feeding as unconcernedly as though they 



