AT THE MIRROR. 211 



otherwise did the clarin. He went deliberately 

 to the floor where they were, took one berry 

 daintily in the tip of his beak, returned with it 

 to the upper perch, fixed his eyes upon me, and 

 suddenly, without a movement, let it slip down 

 his throat, his eyes still upon me, with the most 

 comically solemn expression of " Who says I 

 swallowed a berry ? " Then he stood with an 

 air of defiant innocence, as if it were a crime 

 to eat berries, not wiping his bill nor moving 

 a feather till he wanted another berry, when he 

 ate it in exactly the same way. 



The clarin defended himself against imposi- 

 tion, but, except to his own reflection in the 

 glass, he never showed warlike inclinations. 

 Upon his first sight of himself he was much 

 excited. His feathers rose, especially on the 

 back, where they looked like a hump ; his beak 

 pointed toward the offensive stranger, he uttered 

 a peculiar new war-cry and then flung himself 

 violently upon the enemy. Of course he brought 

 up against the glass, and dropped panting to 

 the bureau. In a moment he rallied, poured 

 out a few unfamiliar notes in a loud strange 

 voice, with wings quivering, body swaying from 

 side to side, and tail wide spread. Then lifting 

 both wings high above his back, he repeated the 

 attack. Finding himself a second tii:|^e baffled, 

 he remained where he had dropped, silent, a 

 picture of despair. 



