ragged robin (Lychnis Floscuculi), the spotted orchis (O.
maculata), and the yellow rattle (Rhinanthus Crista-galli); while in
drier meadows we have cowslips, ox-eye daisies, and buttercups, all very
distinct both in form and colour. So in cornfields we have the scarlet
poppies, the purple corn-cockle, the yellow corn-marygold, and the blue
cornflower; while on our moors the purple heath and the dwarf gorse make
a gorgeous contrast. Thus the difference of colour which enables the
insect to visit with rapidity and unerring aim a number of flowers of
the same kind in succession, serves to adorn our meadows, banks, woods,
and heaths with a charming variety of floral colour and form at each
season of the year.[149]

_Fertilisation of Flowers by Birds._

In the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, insects are the
chief agents in cross-fertilisation when this is not effected by the
wind; but in warmer regions, and in the Southern hemisphere, birds are
found to take a considerable part in the operation, and have in many
cases led to modifications in the form and colour of flowers. Each part
of the globe has special groups of birds which are flower-haunters.
America has the humming-birds (Trochilidae), and the smaller group of
the sugar-birds (Caerebidae). In the Eastern tropics the sun-birds
(Nectarineidae) take the place of the humming-birds, and another small
group, the flower-peckers (Dicaeidae), assist them. In the Australian
region there are also two flower-feeding groups, the Meliphagidae, or
honey-suckers, and the brush-tongued lories (Trichoglossidae). Recent
researches by American naturalists have shown that many flowers are
fertilised by humming-birds, such as passion-flowers, trumpet-flowers,
fuchsias, and lobelias; while some, as the Salvia splendens of Mexico,
are specially adapted to their visits. We may thus perhaps explain the
number of very large tubular flowers in the tropics, such as the huge
brugmansias and bignonias; while in the Andes and in Chile, where
humming-birds are especially plentiful, we find great numbers of red
tubular flowers, often of large size and apparently adapted to these
little creatures. Such are the beautiful Lapageria and Philesia, the
grand Pitcairneas, and the genera Fuchsia, Mitraria, Embothrium,
Escallonia, Desfontainea, Eccremocarpus, and many Gesneraceae. Among the
most extraordinary modifications of flower structure adapted to bird
fertilisation are the species of