98 ME. F. W. KEEBLE ON 



extracted from the fruit. That this habit of squeezing out the seed betokens a special 

 love, on the part of the birds, for Loranthus berries seems shown by the fact that other 

 birds, which only visit the fruit when their more usual food is scarce, have not acquired 

 the habit. Thus I shot a common Bulbul {Chloj^opsis Jerdoni) in whose crop were 

 several whole fruits of L. loniceroides. About a dozen ' Parasite-birds ' were dissected ; 

 in some pulp only was found (pulp of X. loniceroides), in others pulp with one seed, in 

 others pulp with as many as three seeds. 



Of the seeds so obtained, some {L. neelgherrensis) germinated successfully ; others, 

 however, were soft and rotten, having been quite killed hy the digestive juices. 



Now, in the course of a morning a bird visits far more than three fruits ; indeed, the 

 assiduity of the bird in gorging berries is remarkable ; yet three was the greatest number 

 found. Moreover, of seeds swallowed, some are so attacked by digestive juices as to be 

 killed ; thus when, as not infrequently happens, groups of seeds of Loranthus and Viscum 

 species are found mixed with birds' excrement, most are completely rotten. 



Hence probably the birds seek the large fruits of such Loranthus species as L. longi- 

 florus, L. loniceroides, L. neelgherrensis, L. capitellatus, &c., primarily for the pulp 

 formed from the middle layer of the fruit-coat ; but occasionally the birds in their greed 

 swallow the seeds ; and of these, some are digested to an extent to render them unfit for 

 germination, while possibly others pass through the gut uninjured. If a reason other 

 than that of the large size of many of the Ceylon species of Loranthus be sought to 

 account for the fact that the birds generally avoid swallowing the seeds, it may perhaps 

 be found in this, — that the endosperm and embryo of such seeds as those of L. neelgher- 

 rensis, L. loniceroides, and L. longijlorus, and probably of many others, are exceedingly 

 rich in tannin. A curious observation confirms the view to which the above remarks 

 point — viz., that the birds get rid of the seeds by wiping or striking their bills against 

 branches or other convenient objects. At the Hill-Garden of Hakgala (5500 ft.) Loranthi 

 grow luxuriantly. On the single telegraph-wire there are every year hundreds of 

 seedlings of L. lonice^^oides, all in early stages of germination. It can hardly be supposed 

 that the seeds arrive at this anomalous position as a consequence of being voided, but 

 rather that the birds free their beaks of them by striking or rubbing against the wire. 



If due weight be given to the above-enumerated considerations and observations, it 

 wiU, I think, be conceded that, at least in the majority of cases, the seeds of the large 

 species of Loranthus reach their hosts without having passed through the alimentary 

 canals of birds, and that their distribution is associated with an acquired habit on the 

 part of the birds. This acquired habit consists in the birds first extracting the seed from 

 the fruit-covering, and secondly, rejecting the seed and fruit-wall, both of which are rich 

 in tannin, the bird's object being to obtain the sweetish pulp (which contains a little, 

 but only a little tannin) ; and thirdly, in the wiping-off of the seeds which stick to the 

 bill on a convenient place, usually a branch. 



The alternative mode of distribution mentioned by Engler and Prantl *, whereby 

 the seed, shaken out from the fruit as it falls, sticks to any opposed object, is, I believe, 



* ' Natiirl. Pflanzenfam.,' Teil iii. 



