234 Guests Welcome and Unwelcome 



The group of honey-eating birds is so immense, both 

 in the islands of the Pacific, Australia, America North 

 and South the Moluccas, etc., that there can be no 

 doubt as to the large share they take in conveying 

 pollen from one flower to another. 



The ruby-throated humming-bird frequents lilacs, 

 phloxes, portulaccas, morning glories, roses, honey- 

 suckles, snap-dragons, fuchsias, and many other flowers; 

 and in dry weather, before the spring begins, it will 

 even enter greenhouses and suck the fuchsias there, 

 which it does more rapidly than the honey-bee. 



The Portuguese name for the humming-bird is 

 Beija Flor, * Kiss-flower'; but the little creature is 

 not so ethereal in its habits as its appearance and 

 poetical name have led people to suppose. It does 

 ' kiss ' the flowers, but with a view to something more 

 substantial than nectar merely, though that may be all 

 very well as an addition to its food. 



Many a humming-bird has been starved to death in 

 captivity, owing to the mistaken notion that honey, 

 or sugar-and-water, was all that it needed; whereas 

 these living, flashing jewels possess tongues which are 

 exactly adapted for picking up insects ; and insects are 

 their principal food, though they take nectar as well. 



The humming-bird's tongue is long, and can be 

 stretched out far beyond its bill ; it is very flexible, and 

 being cleft in two it can be opened and shut at will, 

 ' like a delicate, pliable pair of forceps.' 



The humming-bird is, indeed, nearly related to the 

 swift, and its chief diet consists of the small insects 

 which are seldom wanting in the long-throated 

 blossoms of the tropics. The sheaths of the arums 

 and their kindred are generally full of insects too ; so 



