Ee aeUsleb OANes Ula he i LaN on 

Pollination of Flowers by Birds 
LOWERS are so generally pollinated by the wind and insects that 
| oe often overlook the fact that flowers have devised various other 
methods of securing pollination. There are, indeed, flowers that are 
pollinated by bats and others pollinated by snails, and, as might be 
supposed, such winged creatures as the birds must occasionally be em- 
ployed. Plants pollinated by birds are known as Ornithophilous plants 
and they probably exist in much greater numbers than we imagine. 
Ornithophilous flowers are naturally among the larger forms and con- 
sequently most abundant in tropical and sub-tropical lands, but some 
extend as far north as Canada, being, in fact, about as widely distributed 
as the birds that pollinate them. In many cases the pollination by birds 
is merely incidental to the bird’s search for nectar, for the flowers are ad- 
justed tothe visits of insects as well, but inthe tropicsthere are many species 
or even entire genera that seem designed especially for the visits of birds. 
The principal bird pollinators are the Humming-birds and honey- 
suckers but small woodpeckers have been reported as working on the 
flowers. It is likely that both Humming-birds and honey-suckers also 
make use of the small insects which they find in flowers. Ornithophilous 
flowers usually have long, tubular corollas which for the most part hang 
sidewise on the stem and thus permit the nectar to be gathered while the 
birds hover before the flowers after the manner of the sphinx moth. 
Among flowers in the Northern States pollinated by our single species 
of Humming-bird are the trumpet creeper, the jewel-weed, salvia, car- 
dinal flower, fuchsia, passion-flower, and canna. In general Ornith- 
ophilous flowers are scarlet or otherwise brightly colored, but there are 
many exceptions to this rule. If the behavior of our Humming-bird 
may be taken as a guide, almost any flower with nectar may be visited. 
Witiarp N. Curure, Joliet, Illinois 

Photograph by Wm. I. Lyon 
Casptan TERNS READY FOR BANDING 
