\Ji 



POOD A^D HABITS. >C C^ 57 



crimson tassels ; but the leaf-buds were only 

 st beginning to open. A Mango Humming- 

 bird had every day, and all day long, been paying 

 his devoirs to these charming blossoms. On the 

 morning to which I allude another came, and 

 the mancEuvres of these two tiny creatures be- 

 came highly interesting. They chased each 

 other through the labyrinth of twigs and flow- 

 ers, till an opportunity occurring, the one would 

 dart with fury upon the other, and then, with a 

 loud rustling of their wings, they would twirl 

 together round and round until they nearly 

 came to the earth. It was some time before I 

 could see with any distinctness what took place 

 in these tussles ; their twirlings were so rapid 

 as to baffle all attempts at discrimination. At 

 length an encounter took place pretty close to 

 me, aud I perceived that the beak of the one 

 grasped the beak of the other, and thus fas- 

 tened both whirled round and round in their 

 perpendicular descent, the point of contact being 

 the centre of the gyrations, till, when another 

 second would have brought them both on the 

 ground, they separated, and the one chased the 

 other for about a hundred yards, and then re- 

 turned in triumph to the tree, where, perched 

 on a lofty twig, he chirped monotonously and 

 pertinaciously for some time ; I could not help 

 thinking in defiance. In a few minutes, how- 

 ever, the banished one returned, and began 

 chirping no less provokingly, which soon brought 



