Feathers and Flight. i6 



winter, and that British Swallows and Martins reach 

 Xatal and Cape Colony. 



In Greece and Egyjot the natives say that a lot 

 of small birds ride across the three hundred odd 

 miles of the Mediterranean Sea on the backs of the 

 migrating Cranes: and, strangely enough, it is a 

 generally accejDted belief that a small bird of the 

 Finch family rides north every spring on the back 

 of the Canada Goose— at any rate, they always 

 travel together. 



Of course, a lot of lucal migration goes on in 

 addition to oversea travelling. Curlews leave the 

 moors on which they breed in the summer and 

 spend the winter on the mud fiats by the sea. In 

 August and September every year numbers of 

 Gulls may be seen flying across the north of England 

 from the German Ocean to the Irish Sea. 



The flight of birds has had a great influence on 

 thu distribution of plant life, and many forests owe 

 their existence in a great measure to seed eating 

 birds. There is a species of plant in the West 

 Indies which depends entirely for its distribution 

 upon its seeds being carried away clinging to the 

 feathers of birds, and it overloads its little servants 

 to such an extent at times that they are unable to 

 fly, and perish under their burdens. 



Partridges living on heavy land get their feet 

 so clogged with earth during Avet weather that their 

 flight is considerably reduced in speed in conse- 

 cjuence of the additional weight they have to carry. 



