i896. DISPERSAL OF SEEDS BY BIRDS. 189 



baceous plants alone that are disseminated by adhesiveness of fruits 

 or seeds. 



The present paper, however, considers only the first of the above 

 methods, namely Dissemination by Animals, and especially by Birds, 

 as exemplified by the plants of the Malay region. Mammals, birds, 

 and insects, chiefly ants, are the living disseminators of plants. Of 

 the former I have already treated in the paper referred to, and will 

 only repeat that the fruits and seeds disseminated by them are almost 

 invariably dull-coloured, green or brown, partly because so many 

 frugivorous animals are nocturnal, when colour is useless, and partly 

 because in thick jungles the animals are unable to see for any great 

 distance on account of the density of the foliage, while birds, on the 

 other hand, flying above the trees can easily detect coloured fruit at a 

 distance and find their way straight to it. 



Colour, however, especially red, occurs accidentally in fruits not 

 destined to attract birds, and may be absolutely injurious to the fruit. 

 It is most conspicuous in species of Dipterocarpus, e.g., D. ptevygocalyx, 

 D. oblonglfolins, Bl., D. cornutus, Dyer, and several species of Hopea, 

 MelanorvhcBa Curtisii, Oliv., and M. Wallichii, Br. (Anacardiacese). These 

 trees have winged fruits of the most brilliant crimson or red, and when 

 in full fruit are truly magnificent. I have seen nearly all the fruits on 

 a tree of D. cornutus, Dyer, destroyed by monkeys, which devour the 

 seed. Parameria polynetira is a climber (Apocynaceae) which produces 

 slender pods about two feet long, containing plumed seeds. The pods 

 often become red and somewhat conspicuous when the fruit is ripe, 

 and I have seen pods in which every seed was bitten out and eaten by 

 some animal before it was ripe. 



But, with these few exceptions, seeds and fruits destined for dis- 

 persal by wind or water are dull green or brown, and even in plants 

 in which the persistent calyx or bracts are coloured to make the flower 

 the more conspicuous, as in Botigamvillea, Petrcia, Congea, etc., the calyx 

 or bracts usually lose their briUiancy in fruiting, and become dull and 

 inconspicuous. 



The birds which play the most important part in seed-dissemina- 

 tion are the fruit-eating birds which are attracted by bright colours. 

 Among the most prominent of them here are the common bulbul 

 {Pycnonotus analis, Horsf.), the dark blue starling (Calovnis chalybea, 

 Horsf.), and the mynah [Mainatus javanensis, Osb.) The hornbills 

 (Buceros, Anthvacocevos, etc.) play a large part in the dispersal of the 

 larger seeds such as nutmegs ; the pigeons [Chalcophaps, Carpophaga, 

 Tuvtiiv, Treron) eat all kinds of fruits, especially those of Fictis ; the 

 parrots, of which there are here but few species, also aid in dispersal ; 

 I have seen numbers of PalcBornis at the fruit of Macavanga populifolia 

 and other trees. The graminivorous finches {Miinia maja and M. 

 atyicapilla) probably account for the dispersal of many of the 

 grasses, not only by swallowing the fruits, but also by bearing away 

 many of the adhesive ones in their feathers. It is also very probable 



