HUMMING BIRDS 



when there are fewer enemies and more security. If you 

 look at any of these moth-flowers at mid-day, they are for 

 the most part closed up, they are not particularly attractive, 

 and they are giving out very little scent. The contrast to 

 their condition in the evening is most striking. 



Not only insects but birds are used to carry pollen. The 

 gorgeous little humming birds, with their brilliant metallic 

 crimson, bronze-green, and purple, are of the greatest 

 importance in the New World. In the Old World they are 

 replaced by the tiny Nectarinidce or Sunbirds, with breast- 

 plates almost as exquisitely jewelled. They prefer the most 

 gorgeous reds and scarlets, such as that of Salvia horminum^ 

 Lobelia cardinalis, and the like. Fuchsias are regularly 

 visited by them in Tierra del Fuego, where sometimes they 

 may be seen busily at work dm-ing a shower of snow. In 

 South Africa they seize the stem of a Redhot Poker {THtomd) 

 (Kniphqfia macowanii), and twisting their little heads round, 

 they suck the honey from every blossom in succession. Still 

 more interesting it is to see them perched on the edge of one 

 of those great tumbler-like heads of Protea (e.g. P. incompta) 

 and dipping their slender curved beaks repeatedly into the 

 flowers. Then the little male bird will alight on a branch 

 and make the most elaborate preparation for a song of 

 triumph. Although helped out by fluttering of wings and 

 much display of feathers and tail, the song is a very faint 

 cheep of the feeblest description, and very difficult to hear. 



Not only birds but even animals are sometimes called into 

 the service. There is a group of small mammals which live 

 on the honey of flowers. Even the Kangaroo is said to 

 occasionally take a draught of nectar from some of the cup- 

 like flowers of the Australian Dryandra (Protea^eae), 



But one of the most interesting and extraordinary facts 



75 



