CLASS 11. AVES: ORDER 2. PAS SERES. 



105 



TUE TOPAZ HUMMIXG-BIRD. 



dead tAvigs of a tree or bush, where he drosses and arranges liis phimage with great dexterity. His 

 only note is a single chirp, not louder than that of a small cricket or grasshopper, generally uttered 

 while passing from flower to flower, or when engaged in fight with his fellows ; for, when two 

 males meet at the same bush or flower, a battle instantly takes place, and the combatants ascend 

 in the air, chirping, darting, and circling around each other, till the eye is no longer able to fol- 

 low them. The conqueror, however, generally returns to the place to reap the fruits of his vic- 

 tory. I have seen him attack, and for a few moments tease the king-bird, and have also seen 

 him, in his turn, assaulted by a humble-bee, which he soon put to flight. 



"The humming-bird is one of those few birds that are universally beloved ; and amid the sweet, 

 dewy serenity of a summer's morning, his appearance among the arbors of honeysuckles and 

 beds of flowers is truly interesting — 



" When the morning dawns, and the blest sun again 

 Lifts his red glories from the eastern main, 

 Then through our woodbines, wet with glittering dews, 

 The flower-fed hummiug-bird his round pursues ; 

 Sips, with inserted tube, the honey'd blooms. 

 And chirps his gratitude as round he roams ; 

 While richest roses, though in crimson drest, 

 Shrink from the splendor of his gorgeous breast. 

 What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fly ! 

 Each rapid movement gives a different dye ; 

 Like scales of burnish'd gold they dazzling show, 

 Now sink to shade — now like a furnace glow." 

 Vol. II.— 14 



