202 The Great World's Farm 



total absence of showy blossoms in Juan Fernandez as in 

 the Galapagos. One shrub which flourishes there bears 

 snowy blossoms, like those of the magnolia; another, also 

 plentiful, has dark blue flowers; and besides these, there 

 are large patches of a white, lily-like bulb, and there are 

 two conspicuous yellow flowers as well. 



Yet Juan Fernandez is poor in insects. It has but one 

 butterfly, and that is rare; there are only four species of 

 moths, and no bees at all, but some which are very minute, 

 and of no more use to large blossoms than the flies, of 

 which there are twenty species. 



But the poverty of the insect-life is made up for by the 

 presence of humming-birds, which are so abundant that 

 there are one or two in every shrub ; and these when killed 

 are usually found with the front of their heads covered 

 with pollen. 



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, morningglories, roses, honeysuckles, 

 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 





