THE ANGIOSPERMAE 



1299 



adapted for solid food. The true Humming Birds, on the other hand, are 

 often insect eaters and it is for the sake of the insects rather than for the 

 nectar that the flowers are visited. Others are honey eaters, Hke the coHbri 

 species observed by Miiller in Brazil, which consumes the sweet petals of 

 Feijoa (see p.ii6o). 



I. Direct Bird Flowers 



Many of the earlier travellers in the Amazon basin have described in 

 meticulous detail their observations on the part played by Humming Birds 

 in the Brazilian jungle. We may cite here an account given by Bates. He 

 first observed the activity of these Humming Birds in the neighbourhood 

 of Caripi where he found that they were at work, day after day, on a species 

 of Bignonia, which forms trees of considerable size and blooms most freely 



Fig. 1227. — Bignonia capreolata. A, Poised Humming Bird feeding from a flower. B, 

 Front view of young flower with anthers presented. C, Young flower in section 

 with anthers in forward position. D, Older flower in section, with stigma forward. 

 {After Bates.) 



