130 THE NATURALIST IN NICARAGUA. [Ch. VIII. 



latitudes we find many flowers fertilised by insects 

 attracted by honey-bearing nectaries ; and in tropical 

 America not only bees, moths, and other large insects 

 carry the pollen from one flower to another, but many 

 flowers, like the Marcgravia, are specially adapted to 

 secure the aid of small birds, particularly humming-birds, 

 for this purpose. Amongst these, the " palosabre," a 

 species of Erythrina, a small tree, bearing red flowers, 



FLOWER OP PALOSABRE. 



that grew in this valley, near the brook, often drew my 

 attention. The tree blooms in February, and is at the 

 time leafless, so that the large red flowers are seen from 

 a great distance. Each flower consists of a single long, 

 rather fleshy petal, doubled over, flattened, and closed, 

 excepting a small opening on one edge, where the 

 stamens protrude. Only minute insects can find access 

 to the flower, which secretes at the base a honey-like 

 fluid. Two long-billed humming-birds frequent it ; one 

 (Heliomaster pallidiceps, Gould), which I have already 

 mentioned, is rather rare ; the other (Phcethornis longi- 

 rostris, De Latt.) might be seen at any time when the 

 tree was in bloom, by watching near it for a few minutes. 

 It is mottled brown above, pale below, and the two 

 middle tail feathers are much longer than the others. 

 The bill is very long and curved, enabling the bird easily 

 to probe the long flower, and with its extensile cleft 

 tongue pick up the minute insects from the bottom of 



