212 THE ROBIN DECLARES WAR. 



hop of six inches, with wings spread, then a 

 savage clatter of the bill. His guest met this 

 demonstration quite calmly. She lowered her 

 head, to defend herself if necessary, but made 

 no other movement. Her calmness filled the 

 robin with horror ; he fled the cage. Then she 

 went all over it, and satisfied herself that it 

 was much like her own, only the food-dish was 

 filled with some uneatable black stuff, instead 

 of the vegetarian food she preferred. She soon 

 departed. 



Meanwhile the cardinal was wasting his time 

 over the window problem, touching the glass 

 with his beak, flying up a few inches before 

 it, gently tapping the pane as he went. It was 

 two or three days before he made up his mind 

 he could not get through. After that he was 

 as indifferent to the outside as any bird in the 

 room, and turned his attention once more to 

 Virginia. Whenever they were in their cages, 

 with the door open between, he assumed the 

 lord-and-mastership of the two ; he drove her 

 away from her own food- cups, usurped her 

 perch and her cage, and made himself disagree- 

 able generally. Finally, one day when she was 

 sitting quietly on the upper perch of his deserted 

 cage, he came into the same cage, and, resting 

 on the low perch close to the door, his tail 

 hanging outside, began a low call, a curious 



