HABITS OF THE KING BIRD. 



351 



of July, his life is one continued scene of broils and battles, in which, however, he 

 generally comes off conqueroi. Hawks and crows, the bald eagle and the great black 

 eagle, all equally dread a rencontre with this dauntless little champion, who, as soon as he 

 perceives one of these last approaching, launches into the air to meet him, mounts to a 

 considerable height above him, and darts down upon his back, sometimes fixing there, to 

 the great annoyance of his sovereign, who, if no convenient retreat or resting-place be 

 near, endeavours by various evolutions to rid himself of his merciless adversary. 



But the King Bird is not so easily dismounted. He teases the eagle incessantly, sweeps 

 upon him from right and left, remounts, that he may descend on his back with the greater 

 violence ; all the while keeping up a shrill and rapid twittering ; and continuing the 

 attack sometimes for more than a mile, till he is relieved by some other of his tribe 

 equally eager for the combat. 



There is one bird, however, which, by its superior rapidity of flight, is sometimes 

 more than a match for him ; and I have several times witnessed his precipitous retreat 



BIKD. Tynvtinus 



before this active antagonist. This is the purple martin, one whose food and disposition 

 is pretty similar to his own, but who has greatly the advantage of him on the wing, in 

 eluding all his attacks, and teasing him as he pleases. I have also seen the red-hooded 

 woodpecker, while clinging on a rail of the fence, amuse himself with the violence of the 

 King Bird, and play bo-peep with him round the rail,' while the latter, highly irritated, 

 made every attempt, as he swept from side to side, to strike him, but in vain. All this 

 turbulence, however, vanishes as soon as his young are able to shift for themselves, and 

 he is then as mild and peaceable as any other bird." 



Audubon relates an account of a battle between a martin and King Bird, wherein the 

 former proved victorious. The martin had long held sole possession of a farmyard, and 

 when a King Bird came to build its nest within the same locality, it assaulted the intruder 

 with the utmost fuiy. The act of building on the forbidden ground aroused the anger of 

 the martin to such an extent, that whenever the male King Bird passed with materials, 

 the martin attacked, and by force of superior agility dashed its foe to the ground. Al 

 last the poor King Bird died, being worn out with continual struggles, and its mate waf 

 forced to leave that spot. 



The flesh of the King Bird is held in some estimation in one or two of the States, anc 

 the bird is shot in order to supply the table. 



