266 THE LANGUAGE OF BIRDS. 
small cricket or grasshopper, generally uttered while 
passing from flower to flower, or when engaged in 
fights 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, dart- 
ing, and circling around each other, till the eye is 
no longer able to follow them. The conqueror, how- 
ever, generally returns to the same place, to reap the 
fruits of his victory. I have seen him attack, and, 
for a few moments, tease the kingbird, and have also 
seen him, in his turn, assaulted by a humble bee, 
which he soon put to flight. He is one of those few 
birds that are universally beloved ; and amidst the 
sweet dewy serenity of a summer's morning, his 
appearance among the arbours of honeysuckles and 
beds of flowers is truly interesting. 
When 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 humming-bird his round pursues ; 
Sips, with inserted tube, the honey 'd blooms, 
And chirps his gratitude as round he roams ; 
