514 COMMISSION OF ERROR. 



A correspondent of the ' Animal World ' thus writes of 

 the effect of a mirror on a parrot ; and the incident is here 

 given as it illustrates how cheaply and easily amusement may 

 sometimes be procured for bird-pets : ' She showed such in- 

 tense pleasure and excitement at her own reflection in a 

 looking-glass, and called so long after it when removed, that 

 I bought a very small one for her and hung it outside the 

 cage at the end of her perch. For a long time she sat with 

 her bill touching this, and making cooing sounds, and still it 

 is the dearest spot in the world to her. She is never lonely 

 while she has that companion in the looking-glass. She runs 

 to it with all her joys and sorrows. She rattles the frame 

 and talks to it when her cover is put on for the night. And, 

 if the back of the glass should be turned towards her, she does 

 all she can to set it right. Moreover, at this season .... 

 she feeds the children she sees in there. It has attached her 

 so much to the cage that when it is being cleaned she calls 

 loudly for it, and runs to meet it when she sees it coming 

 into the room.' 



Pleasure is taken in its own mirrored image by the gold- 

 finch, the result, apparently, of personal vanity (Baird). And 

 other birds frequently gaze at themselves in mirrors, whatever 

 be their motive (Darwin). The orang, too, shows gratifica- 

 tion at its personal appearance in a mirror (Pierquin). 



It is not a little interesting to note that savage men, 

 when first brought in contact with a mirror, behave very 

 much as the lower animals do. Thus, when a jungle Vedda 

 was shown a looking-glass, says Hartshorne, ' he appeared at 

 first to be terrified and annoyed ; but afterwards looked be- 

 hind it and round about in a puzzled and wondering manner, 

 with his hand upon his axe, as if preparing to defend him- 

 self. Five or six others to whom the glass was successively 

 shown displayed similar gestures.'^ 



Capt. Moresby tells us that the women of New 'Guinea 

 6 would start back affrighted on a looking-glass being pre- 

 sented to them.' A correspondent of the c Scotsman ' (news- 

 paper) ' says of the inhabitants of Fishers Island, in the 

 middle passage between New Guinea and Australia, ' One 

 fellow having got a looking-glass, turned it round and round, 



1 Of July 20, 1876. 



