72 CHARACTER IN FEATHERS. 



on by sons of Adam, and, after all deductions 

 are made, the claim of the HylocicTilce 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 Hylocichlce 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- 



