682 The American Naturalist. [August, 
. flowers, the pollen of which is carried from one plant to 
another by insects in search of honey, are variously adapted to 
cause the grains to adhere to the hairy underside of the insects 
body to promote their dispersion. In ornithophilous pollina- 
tion the pollen is carried in such diverse ways that this 
together with other data combine to make it possible that the 
humming-bird is the most wonderful distributor of pollen 
known to the animal world. We are not content to leave the 
subject without noticing, that as compared with insects, the 
local range of flight of humming-birds is undoubtedly greater 
and during the regular migrations they make extensive 
flights? Their summer home in eastern North America ex- 
tends from the Gulf of Mexico to half way across the British 
Provinces and from the Atlantic Coast to beyond the Missis- 
sippi River. In winter its range is southward, reaching into 
Southern Florida, into Veragua and the western portion of 
the Isthmus of Panama, about eight degrees north of the 
equator. The equivalent of some 2000'statute miles is thus 
represented in the migrations of this diminutive bird. The 
pollen taken enroute during migration, as the humming-bird 
takes its sip of nectar from flower to flower, may gather in its 
repositories and be transported from place to place any where 
throughout its range. That some strange pollen grains are found 
entangled upon the bird is not surprising, especially in spring, 
taking these suggestions into consideration, and what wonder 
is it we are called upon to say that the phenomena of so wide- 
spread and perpetual a means of pollination of plants is per- 
haps unparalleled. | 
ExPLANATION OF PLATE. 
Fig. 1. Trochilus colubris taking food, drawn from memory. 
Fig. 2. Head of T. colubris from nature. 
Fig. 3. Skin removed from head to show skull. 
*It will be observed that the author refers entirely to the ruby-throated hum- 
ming-bird ( T. colubris) here, and what may be brought out by a further study of 
other species as regards to the part they play in pollination is a matter for the 
