240 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



chambers of long tubular flowers, such as the 

 Brngmansia. Some, on the other hand, as if to 

 show that the same end may be attained by 

 different means, obtain access to the same flowers 

 by a shorter process, and pierce the bases of the 

 corolla instead of seeking access by the mouth. 

 Some have bills bent downwards like a sickle, 

 adapted to searching the bark of Palm-trees for 

 the insects hid under the scaly covering ; others 

 have bills curved in the opposite direction, fitted, 

 apparently, to the curious construction of some 

 of the great family of Orchids so immensely de- 

 veloped in the forests of Central America. Some 

 have bills equally well adapted for searching a 

 vast variety of flowers and blossoms, and these, 

 accordingly, migrate with the flowering season, 

 and issuing from the great stronghold of the family 

 in tropical America, spread like our own summer 

 birds of passage, northwards to Canada, and south- 

 wards to Cape Horn, in the corresponding seasons 

 of the year. In contrast with these species of 

 extended range, there are many species whose 

 habitat is confined, perhaps to a single mountain, 

 and there are a few which never have been seen 



