372 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



" Although the beaks and feet of birds are generally clean, earth some- 

 times adheres to them. In one case I removed sixty-one grains, and 

 in another case twenty-two grains, of dry argillaceous earth from the 

 foot of a partridge, and in the earth there was a pebble as large as the 

 seed of a vetch. Here is a better case : the leg of a woodcock was 

 sent me by a friend, with a little cake of dry earth attached to the 

 shank weighing only nine grains, and this contained a seed of the 

 toad-rush (Juncus bufonis), which germinated and flowered. . . . Pro- 

 fessor Newton sent me the leg of a red-legged partridge ( Caccabis 

 ritfa), which had been wounded and could not fly, with a ball of earth 

 adhering to it weighing six and a half ounces. The earth had been 

 kept for three years, but, when broken, watered, and placed under a 

 bell-glass, no less than eighty-two plants sprang from it ; these con- 

 sisted of twelve monocotyledons, including the common oat and at 

 least one kind of grass, and of seventy dicotyledons which consisted, 

 judging from the young leaves, of at least three distinct species. 

 With such facts before us, can we doubt that the many birds which 

 are annually blown by gales across great spaces of ocean, and which 

 annually migrate for instance, the millions of quail across the Medi- 

 terranean must occasionally transport a few seeds in dirt adhering 

 to their feet or beaks ? " 



So, too, animals perform a part in this grand work. Many seeds 

 are furnished with hooks or prickles of various kinds, which enable 

 them to cling to the hair and wool of animals. Take LyelPs illustra- 

 tion of the hunted deer as an instance of how this work could be per- 

 formed : " A deer has strayed from the herd when browsing on some 

 rich pasture, when suddenly he is alarmed by the approach of his foe. 

 He instantly takes to flight, darting through many a thicket and swim- 

 ming across many a river and lake. The seeds of the herbs and shrubs 

 which have adhered to his smoking flanks, and even many a thorny 

 spray which has been torn off and fixed itself in his hairy coat, are 

 brushed off again in other thickets and copses. Even on the spot 

 where the victim is devoured, many of the seeds which he has swal- 

 lowed immediately before the chase may be left on the ground unin- 

 jured and ready to spring up in a new soil." * 



As Lyell remarks in this quotation, many of the seeds which ani- 

 mals swallow may pass through the stomach and still retain vitality 

 enough to sprout after being left on the ground. Instances of this 

 can be seen in almost every barnyard, where the grains of corn and 

 oats dropped in the excrement of cows and horses sprout, if not 

 picked up by the barnyard fowls. Farmers know well, too, that a 

 field manured with fresh manure is likely to produce not a few weeds 

 along with its legitimate crop. 



Even such insignificant forms of life as insects may and do per- 

 form a part in the transportation of seeds. From a small packet of 

 * " Principles of Geology," vol. ii., p. 397. 



