234 Gtiests Welco77ie 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 



