- 156 . 
clinching and coming to the ground together. After such 
a battle they would return, one by one, or others would 
uake their places and for awhile comparative tranquillity 
would reign as they fed busily from flower to flower, 
each making a low, soothing droning sound in place of the 
angry buzz of war. 
There were frequently five or six species in the 
tree at once and as all were alike apparently oblivious 
to my presence or movements it would seem to have been an 
easy matter to quickly select and shoot such as I wanted. 
This proved, however, exceedingly difficult for against 
the bright light in the sky which formed the background 
as I looked upward it was almost impossible to distinguish 
color and very unsafe to rely on size and shape alone. 
Thus it would often take several minutes to identify any 
particular bird and at the precise moment when I had fully 
recognized him it often happened that he woaald dart away 
pursuing, or pursued by, another. Indeed, I sometimes 
stood quietly beneath the tree for half-an-hour without 
firing a shot and three full hours were consumed in killing 
eight birds. Of course I might have fired at random, 
but I wanted only certain species and did not care to waste 
life. (5 species identified.) 
At this tree I fully identified the following 
species which are named in the order of their relative 
