HUMMING BIRD. 
209 
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, darting and 
circling around each other, till the eye is no longer 
able to follow them. The conqueror, however, gene- 
rally returns to the place, to reap the fruits of his 
victory. 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. 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 ; 
While richest roses, though in crimson drest, 
Shrink from the splendour of his gorgeous breast; 
What heav’nly tints in mingling radiance fly ! 
Each rapid movement gives a different dye ; 
Like scales of burnish’d gold they dazzling shew, 
Now sink to shade — now like a furnace glow ! 
The singularity of this little bird has induced many 
persons to attempt to raise them from the nest, and 
accustom them to the cage. Mr Coffer, of Fairfax county, 
Virginia, a gentleman who has paid great attention to 
the manners and peculiarities of our native birds, told 
me, that he raised, and kept two, for some months, in a 
cage ; supplying them with honey dissolved in water, on 
which they readily fed. As the sweetness of the liquid 
frequently brought small flies and gnats about the cage, 
and cup, the birds amused themselves by snapping at 
them on wing, and swallowing them with eagerness, so 
VOL. II. o 
