CHAP. III. VIOLENT PASSIONS OF ANIMALS. 69 



observes Dr. Burchell, " is remarkable for its boldness : 

 whenever hawks or ravens ap- 

 proach its nest, it flies out upon 

 them with incredible fury, and 

 drives them away with a harsh 

 angry noise, attacking the ob- 

 truder on its dwelling in the 

 rear, and pursuing him to a con- 

 siderable distance. That a bird, 

 not much larger than a swallow 

 (fig. 16.), should have courage 

 to attack another so many times 

 larger, and that, too, a hawk, is 

 a singular fact, but not more 

 extraordinary than the evident fear and precipitation 

 with which its enemy hastens to get out of its reach."* 

 (86.) Birds, however, like men, experience other, be- 

 sides the gentler, passions. The fierceness of the ra- 

 pacious order is well known ; and the obstinacy with 

 which combats are carried on, even by domestic fowls, 

 is known to every one : but who would suppose that 

 the smallest of all the feathered tribes the hum- 

 ming birds would exhibit the most violent, though, 

 at the same time, ludicrous paroxysms of rage. Pen- 

 nant, when speaking of the Trochilus colubris of North 

 America, observes, " The most violent passions some- 

 times agitate their little breasts : they have often dread- 

 ful contests, when numbers happen to dispute the same 

 flower : they will tilt against each other with such fury, 

 as if they meant to transfix their antagonists with their 

 long bills." It may be truly said, that these little 

 creatures are sadly prone to quarrel over their cups 

 not of wine, but of flowers. We have frequently seen 

 four or five engaged in a flying fight, when disputing 

 the possession of a flowery tree in the forests of Brazil. 

 At such times they fly so swiftly that the eye can scarcely 

 follow them. The violent quarrels of sparrows par- 

 ticularly in the pairing season is familiar to most of 



* Burchell's Travels, p. 440. 



p 3 



