RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 405 



bush. His usual course in leaving his nest was over the hummer's 

 bush, and the male seldom failed to dart out at him from his watch 

 tower near by." 

 Mr. Kobbe (1900) writes: 



The pugnacity of these birds is the most prominent characteristic of the 

 species and when they are not fighting among themselves they make war upon 

 other birds. The males are nearly always the participants and seem to take 

 great delight in fighting each other with their utmost strength. It is a very 

 common sight to see a male Hummer perched upon a telegraph wire or exposed 

 twig watching for others of his own sex with which to do battle. Although they 

 sometimes fall over and over toward the ground like two huge bees, they seldom 

 disable one another, since their bills are very weak. The greatest efforts on 

 the part of one of the Hummers only succeed in pulling out a few feathers of 

 his adversary, who is finally driven away in a rather bedraggled condi- 

 tion. * * ♦ On several occasions I have seen male Hummers fight and drive 

 of£ Swallows from the vicinity of their nest, particularly when it contained 

 eggs. During the nesting season the males frequently, but not always, sit near 

 the tree in which their home is placed and attempt to drive all birds fi'om the 

 vicinity of the nest. They pay great attention to their duty and seldom fail to 

 dart after other Hummers, even if they are simply passing the tree in which the 

 nest is placed. I have good reasons to believe that they do this more from a 

 love of fighting than from parental instinct or devotion, since the male birds 

 rarely appear upon the scene when their nest is being taken. 



Henshaw (1886) writes of behavior on their feeding grounds in 

 New Mexico: 



Males and females all flock to the common feeding ground, and as the Hum- 

 mers, especially of the Rufous-backed species, are pugnacious and hot tempered 

 in the extreme, the field becomes a constant battle-ground whereon favorite 

 flowers and favorite perching grounds are contested for with all the ardor that 

 attaches to moi-e important conquests. The fiery red throat of the Rufous- 

 backed Hummer is an index of its impetuous, aggressive disposition, and when 

 brought into conflict with the other species it invariably asserts its supremacy 

 and drives its rival in utter rout from the fields. Nor do the males of this 

 species confine their warfare to their own sex. Gallantry has no place appar- 

 ently in their breasts, and when conquest has put them in possession of a perch 

 near a clump of flowers they wage war on all comers, females as well as 

 males. * * * 



When the attack is urged against the males of the Broad-tailed species the 

 contest is less fierce, the latter species usually abandoning the ground in hot 

 haste. The latter result always follows the assault of a male upon the fe- 

 males who, if less valiant in battle, are scarcely less backward when it comes 

 to the assertion of their rights against intruders of their own sex. The rivalry 

 the females display is not less marked if the battles it prompts are less fierce 

 than when the males are engaged; occasionally the females will fight with all 

 the ardor displayed by the males. 



The elaborate notes that ISIr. DuBois has sent me on his intensive 

 study of the home life of this species well illustrate its tameness, its 

 devotion to its young, and its lack of fear after it had learned to trust 



