How to Attract the Birds 



tongue can be run out at will and 

 turned in any direction to lick 

 up the last drop ot sweets in a 

 curved cornucopia, whereas both 

 bee and butteriiy must insert their 

 tongues in a straight line. Here 

 he has a great advantage over 

 them. 



Again, he stipulates that the 

 riowers which cater to him here shall 

 as to feed him in orderly succession 

 suits his convenience to remain away 

 from the tropics, not to gorge him at one time and 

 starve him at another. His visit in the vicinity of 

 New York lasts from May to October. 



wild 

 bloom so 

 while it 



In the Southern States, through which he 



IS 



passing in April, wooded hillsides and thickets are 

 already gay with whorls ot the coral honeysuckle's 

 brilliant, slender, tubular flowers, flaunted from the 

 tips ot the branching vine where the dullest eye 

 must be arrested by their beauty. Into these deep 

 wells he plunges his 

 bill and finds ample re- 

 freshment on his journey, 

 especially when he adds to 

 his menu some of the gauzy- 

 winced little insects which have 

 taken shelter from the spring 

 winds within the orange-lined red 

 trumpets. By carrying the rip 

 pollen shed from the anthers of one 

 flower to the stigma of another, the 

 ruby- throat pays the only price asked for 



28 



