58 FOOD AND HABITS. 



on another chase and another tussle. I am per- 

 suaded that these were hostile encounters (both 

 were adult males), for one seemed evidently 

 afraid of the other, though his indomitable spirit 

 would prompt the chirp of defiance ; and, when 

 resting after a battle, I noticed that this one 

 held his beak open, as if panting. Sometimes 

 they would suspend hostilities to suck a few 

 blossoms, but mutual proximity was sure to 

 bring them on again with the same result. In 

 their tortuous and rapid evolutions, the light 

 from their ruby necks would now and then flash 

 in the sun with gemlike radiance ; and as they 

 now and then hovered motionless the broadly- 

 expanded tail, whose outer feathers are crimson- 

 purple, but when intercepting the sun's rays 

 transmit orange-coloured light, added much to 

 their beauty. A little Banana Quit (a species 

 x)f creeper or certhia, which hops among the 

 flowers and probes them, clinging in all posi- 

 tions) that was peeping among the blossoms in 

 his own quiet way, seemed now and then to look 

 with surprise on the combatants ; but when one 

 had driven his rival to a longer distance than 

 usual, the victor set upon the unoffending Quit, 

 who soon yielded the point, and retired humbly 

 enough to a neighbouring tree. The war, for it 

 was a thorough campaign, a succession of battles, 

 lasted fully an hour, and then I was called away 

 from the post of observation." 



"We may here observe that the MELLISUGA 



