HONEYSUCKERS 



HONEYSUCKERS are birds that have 

 adopted the manner of living of the butter- 

 fly, and a charming mode of life it is. To 

 flit about in the sunshine and drink sweet 

 draughts of the nectar that lies hidden away at the base 

 of the petals of flowers is indeed an idyllic existence. 



The sunbird, as the honeysucker is frequently called, 

 is provided with a curved beak and a long tubular 

 tongue to enable it the better to rob cup-like blossoms 

 of their honey. The bird must perforce be very small 

 and light, or it would find it impossible to reach the 

 nectar of many flowers. As a matter of fact, it is 

 almost as light as air, so is able to support itself on one 

 flower when drinking honey from another. Sometimes, 

 if no perch be available, the little honeysucker will 

 hover in the air on rapidly vibrating wings and thus 

 extract the sweets from a flower. In this attitude it 

 looks very like a butterfly. I may here mention that 

 sunbirds do not live exclusively upon honey : they 

 vary this diet with minute insects which they pick off 

 flowers and leaves. 



Honeysuckers are frequently called humming-birds 

 by Anglo-Indians. This is not correct. Humming- 

 birds are confined to the New World, and are smaller 



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