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This had been intended to form a chapter on the subject in the "Descent of Man," but as soon as Darwin began to put his notes together he saw that it would require a separate treatise. In July, 1875, appeared the book on "Insectivorous Plants."
But there seems no unusual abundance of insectivorous birds to render this necessary; and as we cannot believe that such a curious peculiarity is without meaning, it seems probable that it is the result of a former condition of things, when the island possessed a much richer fauna, the relics of which we see in the isolated birds and Mammalia now inhabiting it; and when the abundance of insectivorous creatures rendered some unusual means of escape a necessity for the large-winged and showy butterflies.
The face and head of the Pteropus are covered with brownish-grey hairs, the neck and chest are dark ferruginous grey, and the rest of the body brown, inclining to black. These active and energetic creatures, though chiefly frugivorous, are to some extent insectivorous also, as attested by their teeth , as well as by their habits.
He showed us many slides on the Western Ghats i.e. insectivorous plants, mountain goats, rivers that are formed by condensation of water vapour, plants that flower every ten years, etc. All that I had studied in geography and science in school now came alive for me. Both were very good. The next morning we went walking again and saw only birds. We walked about 12 kms that day.
The singular circumstance observed by Meyer, that the Torula of yeast, though an indubitable plant, still flourishes most vigorously when supplied with the complex nitrogenous substance, pepsin; the probability that the Peronospora is nourished directly by the protoplasm of the potato-plant; and the wonderful facts which have recently been brought to light respecting insectivorous plants, all favour this view; and tend to the conclusion that the difference between animal and plant is one of degree rather than of kind, and that the problem whether, in a given case, an organism is an animal or a plant, may be essentially insoluble.
It is almost impossible for any insectivorous bird except a flycatcher to take a moth or a butterfly on the wing. Last year in August the junco, or common snowbird, came into the big barn and built her nest in the side of the haymow, only a few feet from me. The clean, fragrant hay attracted her as it had attracted me. One would have thought that in a haymow she had nesting material near at hand.
Falconer, who first examined them. Before these interesting inquiries were brought to a close, the joint labours of Professor Owen and Dr. Falconer had made it clear that twelve or more species of mammalia characterised this portion of the Middle Purbeck, most of them insectivorous or predaceous, varying in size from that of a mole to that of the common polecat, Mustela putorius.
For the purpose of the regulations, migratory game birds were defined as Ducks, Geese, Swans, Rails, Coots, Pigeons, Cranes, and shore birds, which included Plover, Snipe, Woodcock, and Sandpipers. Migratory insectivorous birds were enumerated as Thrushes, Orioles, Larks, Swallows, Wrens, Woodpeckers, and all other perching birds that feed entirely or chiefly on insects.
There are so many which feed on insects and their larvae, that it may be asked with much reason, What would become of our vegetation, of ourselves, should these insect destroyers disappear? Our frugivorous and baccivorous genera are also pretty numerous, and most of them are so fond of insect food that they unite, as occasion offers, with the insectivorous tribes. So it was once.
The glossy threads with which it is knitted are stout, and the structure is therefore, not liable to be torn by the beaks of insectivorous birds, while its pendulous position makes it doubly secure against their attacks, the apparatus giving way when they peck at it.
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