The Ruby-throat's Caterers 



his generous entertainment. Late in the season 

 other larger birds on their way southward will bolt 

 the bright berries on this vine and distribute the 

 seeds over a wide area. It would, perhaps, be im- 

 possible to find another plant more wholly depend- 

 ent upon the ministration of birds than the coral 

 honeysuckle. Small-flowered bush honeysuckles 

 have adapted them- 

 selves to small bees ; 

 those with longer 

 tubes and greater 

 ambition strive to 

 please bumble-bees ; 

 the twining honey- 

 suckle seen on every 

 village porch wooes 

 the sphinx-moth 

 with white, deli- 

 ciouslv sweet flow- 

 ers, most fragrant at 

 evening and which 

 turn yellow after 

 fertilization. Quite 

 frequently the 

 larger sphinx-moths 

 are mistaken tor 

 humming-birds at gloaming when the former begin 

 their rounds. It is true the ruby-throat often visits the 

 moth's own flowers, but in the tubes of those which, 

 like the twining honeysuckle, have newly opened at 

 evening for their legitimate benefactors' benefit, the 

 bird finds little left to reward his search the follow- 

 ing day unless the previous evening has been too 



31 



Oswego tea 



