FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 
37 
are exceptions, to be sure, but this is the general 
rule which the flowers follow. 
Have you ever noticed how many red flowers 
have their nectar hidden in deep slender 
pockets? If you want to suck the nectar, you 
must bite off the end of a tube and get it from 
the bottom for, of course, your tongue is too 
thick to get into the narrow opening. The 
bumble-bee’s tongue is narrow but not long 
enough. At least a dozen red colored flowers 
are made this way: the trumpet flower, the coral 
honey-suckle, the red and yellow columbine, 
jewel weed, bee balm, gladiolus, canna, nastur¬ 
tium, and salvia are some of them. 
Red seems to be the favorite color of the hum¬ 
ming bird. These red flowers are saving their 
nectar for him. His long, sharp bill is just the 
right size and shape to fit into their nectar 
tubes. They bloom later in the summer than 
the blue and yellow flowers as a rule, because 
the humming bird does not come as early as 
the bees. To be sure, many of the flowers wait 
in vain, because humming birds are not very 
Why do so many 
red -flowers have 
long narrow 
tubes? 
