OUR HOME BIRDS. 
209 
rapidity of flight is sometimes more than a match for 
him ; and he has often been seen to retreat before 
this active antagonist. This is the purple martin, 
one whose food and disposition are very 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. 
“ ‘ The red-headed woodpecker has also been seen, 
while clinging on a rail of the fence, to amuse him- 
self with the violence of the king-bird, and to 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/ 
“ The king-bird does not sing — he only twitters ; 
and besides the insects mentioned he has a great 
fondness for blackberries. He will also, dive into 
the water, like a kingfisher, after small fish or 
aquatic insects, and then go back to his former sta- 
tion to plume and dry his feathers. He often takes 
his stand in the pasture on the top of a stake or a 
tall weed, near the cattle or horses while they are 
.feeding, and makes occasional sweeps after passing 
insects, being especially partial to the large black 
gadfly, which is so especially terrifying to these 
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