TRUMrET-CREEPERS AND THE RUBY-THROATS. 145 



a more favorable position than the battle began. Minute 



description is, of course, impracticable. It was 



" Too like the lightning, that doth cease to be 

 Ere one can say— it lightens!" 



Withdrawing from the flowers, the three birds circled 

 over the spot where I had been sitting, and rushed at 

 each other with impetuous fury. Turning as quickly as 

 they passed each other, again each assaulted the other, 

 and all the while they drew nearer together. A loud 

 bee-like huinining was clearly audible, and in less than 

 a minute they were so near each other as to be scarcely 

 distinguishable. I could only determine that their 

 method of attack was an effort to stab with their sharp 

 beaks. This, finally, one succeeded in doing. His beak 

 was thrust its full length, I thought, into the breast of 

 another, and the two birds fell together to the ground. 

 The third, thinking, perhaps, he had vanquished both, 

 returned to the flowers. 



I stepped quickly to the spot where the two birds 

 were lying on the grass, and as I reached forward to 

 cover them with my hat, one darted off; the other I 

 caught, as it was sorely wounded, and for the time dis- 

 abled. It proved, however, to have simply a flesh-wound, 

 and in the course of half an hour was able to fly, very 

 weakly, however, and the blood upon its breast showed 

 that the hurt was no trivial scratch. 



Such occurrences as this are not unusual. So long as 

 the trumpet-creepers are in bloom the ruby-throats con- 

 tinue to frequent them ; each desirous of the choicest 

 blossoms, and angered by every interruption. Bees, 

 wasps, and hornets they always attack, but not always 



7 



