42 



NATURE SKETCHES IN TEMPERATE AMERICA 



BiED 



Flowers 



OW many times in 

 )assing' througli 

 the low, wet 

 meadows in May 

 and June, have 

 we stopped to 

 view Ihe beautiful, painted 

 cup flowers! J5ut few of us 

 have pondered o\'er the si{^- 

 nificance of their brilliant scar- 

 let coloring. The flowers will 

 be recalled as having the corolla 

 somewhat hidden by the long, two- 

 i i , lobed calyx, which is the part tipped 



': with brilliant color. Then, too, the green 



i leaves are variously stained in the same 



^■el■milion or scarlet, or, they may rarely be colored 

 yellow. One day I was foi'tiniate in coming on Lhe scene at 

 the proper moment, to view the pretty little ruby-throated 

 humming-bird, thirsting after his loTig flight, dart down to 

 si]> the nectar from some of these blossoms. Only a short 

 time previously I had seen him poised in mid-air before the 

 blossoms of the columbine, which grew in the opening near 

 the woods. The preference this bird shows for these flowers 

 has a far deeper meaning than appears on the surface. On 

 a pre\'ious jiage, attention was called to the pollination of 



