104 INSES80RES. 



Summer his jealous and quarrelsome disposition is 

 most apparent. While his mate is occupied with her 

 domestic concerns, he is ever watchful for the appear- 

 ance of intruders, and any attempt to be sociable is 

 repelled with little ceremony. The Eagle, the Hawk, 

 and the Crow, although greatly his superiors in size 

 and strength, are equally the objects of his animosity, 

 and no sooner does one of them make his appearance, 

 than our hero sallies forth to give him battle ; and 

 mounting above him, he darts down upon his back 

 with the swiftness of an arrow, and by repeated pecks 

 with his sharp, powerful bill, from which his less 

 active foe finds it difficult to escape, he soon remains 

 master of the field, having driven the intruder quite 

 out of the neighborhood. There is, however, one 

 bird, which, although no larger nor stronger than him- 

 self, has often proved too much for him ; this is the 

 Purple Martin. His superior quickness upon the 

 wing enables him to evade the sharp blows of the 

 King Bird's bill, and very frequently to get the mas- 

 tery of him and drive him off; sometimes a long and 

 obstinate contest between them ends in the death of 

 the latter. 



Notwithstanding the fondness of the King Bird 

 for bees and sometimes for fruit, he is among the best 

 of the farmer's friends. No Hawk will venture near 

 a barn-yard while he is about, while the swarms of 

 noxious insects which he daily destroys, together with 

 other little services for which we are indebted to him, 

 strongly recommend him to our special care and pro- 

 tection. 



