The observers remarking on the hummers' aggressiveness have reminded me
-- though without any sort of precise recall -- that Alexis de  
Tocqueville's  Democracy
In America (1835) contains a famous passage describing the  
extraordinary and unexpected
"pugnacity" of the hummingbirds as the males fought off rivals and  
larger birds of other
species.   DeTocqueville opined that they were "ounce for ounce" as  
ferocious as any lion."

	Where else are you gonna get such info?

	Leo Weigant



On Sep 1, 2008, at 9:15 PM, Gerald & Laura Tarbell wrote:

>  The adult males migrate first. Most of them are already gone.
>> Les
>
>
> Les and all,
>
> Most but not all. Once again, as I stepped out my back door this  
> afternoon,
> I was nearly run over by a pair of hummers chasing each other. It  
> is usually
> an adult male that instigates all these battles as he tries to  
> dominate all
> 4 of our feeders, some of which are out of sight from each other. I  
> got a
> look at him later as he was feeding and yes there is at least one  
> adult male
> left here.
>
> Somebody mentioned seeing a hummer attack other species of birds in  
> their
> yard recently. I have said it before and I will repeat it - the  
> nastiest,
> meanest creature on this planet is a hummingbird. They are fearless,
> voracious and aggressive. I think the ultimate horror movie would  
> feature
> giant hummers that eat people. Impale them on their saber-like  
> beaks and
> their ruby-colored throats would be the result of blood stains.
>
> Somebody get Hollywood on the phone. They've been wasting time with  
> silly
> things like giant apes and insects and worms and ...
>
> Jerry Tarbell
> Carroll County, where imaginations run wild and so do the hummers