iS96. DISPERSAL OF SEEDS BY BIRDS. 199 



it may be said that far the larger number of seeds are evidently 

 brought from no great distance, a hundred yards or so at most, but 

 other examples make this clear. Kcntia Macavthuvi, a palm cultivated 

 in the gardens, the scarlet drupes of which are very popular with the 

 blue starling [Calovnis chalybca), constantly appears as seedlings within 

 an area of about twenty yards ; but looking all about the garden I 

 cannot find any at a greater distance ; Olea mantima, a sea-shore 

 plant cultivated in the gardens, has spread for a distance of a hundred 

 yards, and though it grows very well in many spots where the seeds 

 have been carried by birds, yet I cannot find any plants beyond that 

 radius. Clidemia hirta a South American plant, which was probably 

 accidentally introduced into the gardens and is now a troublesome 

 weed there, is confined to a very few spots in Singapore, and though 

 abundant in these is extending its area very slowly. Brucea siimatvana 

 was collected by Wallich in Singapore in 1822, but I have never 

 been able to find it again here. However, in 1891 I brought seeds 

 from Pahang, which grew and fruited, and now young plants often 

 appear along the roadsides near the gardens, the seeds being 

 carried about by birds. Birds, as a rule, it appears, remain about a 

 tree so long as it has any fruits on it, and discharge the seeds in the 

 immediate neighbourhood. That they do sometimes carry seeds to a 

 great distance also is shown by the number of bird-disseminated 

 plants in ocean islands ; but this is probably very exceptional, as 

 otherwise many local plants would be much more widely dispersed 

 than they are. Further information is, however, required on this 

 subject, and it is well worth the attention of field-naturalists. 



H. N. Ridley. 

 Singapore. 



