THE HUMMING BIRDS. 279 



above tho feace. Hovciiu^ over these were two Hamming Birds whose coats of me- 

 tallic sheen glistened iu the sun like burnished gold and silver. The little creatures 

 darted hither and thither, inserting their long bills into the tube-like flowers with ab- 

 solute precision and lightning-like rapidity, but all the while engaged in a fierce com- 

 bat with each other. They constantly maintained a position facing one another, and 

 only 6 or 8 inches apart, suddenly rising a dozen feet into the air, where they would 

 have a little battle, and as suddenly dropping like two bullets on one string back to 

 the ilowers, over and among which they would flit about like animated sunbeams. 



Occasionally they would "hitch " and flutter all the way to the ground through the 

 leaves and branches, where they would lie and pummel each other like two school- 

 boys, one on top and the other beneath, the top fellow pausing to take breath andthen 

 pummeliug some more. 



The under bird would appear to give up and look very dilapidated, with outstretched 

 wings and disordered feathers, but the moment the top fellow let go and rose up to 

 the top of the bush the bottom one would be there facing him again. 



The most interesting feature of the performance was their utter obliviousness to my 

 presence. As I stood near tlie palings watching them, which I did for a quarter of an 

 hour, they would flutter around my head and about my face, occasionally striking me 

 with their fluttering wings on face and hands, and one of them lighted for a moment 

 on my thumb. 



One now and again lighted on a picket within a foot of me and gave a quick side 

 glance toward me, which was the only notice I appeared to excite from them. At 

 last one of them retired, vanquished, and tho other exultantly took possession of the 

 flowers. 



More graphically perhaps than by auy other writer is this combat- 

 ive spirit of the Hammiug Bird described by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, in 

 an interesting article on the birds of the Upper Pecos River, New 

 Mexico, in ''The Auk" for January, 1886 (pp. 76, 77), the species de- 

 scribed being the Rufous-backed Hummer {Selasphonts rufus) : 



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

 especially of the Kufous-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 more 

 important conquests. The fiery red throat of the Rufous-backed Hummer is an index 

 of impetuous, aggressive disposition, and when brought into conflict with the other 

 species it invariably asserts its supremacy and drives its rival iu utter rout from the 

 field. Nor do the males of this species confine their warfare to their own sex. Gal- 

 lantry has no place apparently iu 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. 



Nor is the pugnacity of this Humming Bird limited to attacks on other species. 

 The presence of a male of its own kind is sufiicient to arouse it to the highest pitch 

 of fury, and should the contestants be equally matched they will seize each other by 

 the bill and, using their wings as offensive weapons, fall to the ground, roll ever and 

 over iu fierce strife until exhausted, or until one is worsted, when he is off" like a 

 bullet for less dangerous hunting grounds followed by the exulting victor, who, 

 however, soon gives over pursuit and returns to the perch he has so well won to 

 preen his disordered plumage and make ready for a fresh contest. 



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

 is loss fierce, the latter species usually abandoning the ground iu hot haste. The 

 latter result always follows the assault of a male upon the females who, if less val- 

 iant in battle, are scarcely 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; 



