1894.] Ornithophilous Pollination. 679 
ORNITHOPHILOUS POLLINATION. 
" By JosgPH L. Hancock. 
The position that some of the humming-birds occupy in 
respect to the transference of pollen from flower to flower is 
by no means subordinate to insects. 
The common ruby-throated humming-bird (Trochilus colu- 
bris) though not endowed with specialized structures for the 
specific performanee of this office, bears upon careful study 
evidence that the mouth parts and feathers have certain means 
for the harboring of pollen quite beyond the ordinary views. 
The anatomical peculiarities of this bird's head allows access 
to flowers, covering a wide range of forms. A narrowing awl- 
shaped cone 29 mm. long represented by a base of 10 mm. 
admits of this latitude, as expressed more clearly in the ac- 
companying plate, figures 2 and 3, of the head and skull. By 
reason of some flexibility, the billis capable of probing to the 
bottom of nearly all the forms of flowers commonly met with. 
In the feeding process, familiar to almost every one, the flower 
is often bent over to be relieved of its juices. The trumpet 
honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) in the proper season, furn- 
ishes an important part of the food of T. colubris. This vine 
appears wild in the south, the corolla of the flower is long, see 
figure 6, red and scentless. There is a way of accounting for 
this latter condition. Fragrant odors are largely essential to 
the attraction of bees and other insects, but as this plant does 
not lean upon their aid for fertilization, but depends more 
upon the humming-bird and larger moths for the interchange 
of pollen, the absence of fragrance is accounted for. The two 
last mentioned, from my own observations, depend for the 
most part upon sight for the detection of food plants. A male 
specimen of the ruby-throated humming-bird which wastaken 
from a cat which had seized it in the act of feeding upon the 
nectar of flowers, was sent to the writer by a friend. From 
"To this power in birds the designation of ornithophilous pollination is proposed : 
in contradistinction to entomophilous pollination. 
