676 



We may thus take it as an established faet Ihat piants can 

 travel across the sea, and that a country, island, or arehipelago may 

 be stocked with many different species if only there is time 

 enough. Earlier writers also have referred to the following fac- 

 tors as means of transport across the sea, viz. (1) birds, (2) wind, 

 (3) ocean currents, (4) lloating ice and floating timber, and lastly 

 (5) man 1 . I find that these disseminating agencies are of very une- 

 qual value to the Færoes. 



Birds. Ostenfeld (pp. 116—117 above) refers to the inter- 

 esting result arrived at by Danish investigators, viz. that migratory 

 birds journey on empty stomachs. For a number of consecutive 

 years thousands of birds, picked up dead at the Danish lighthouses, 

 have been sent to the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, and notes 

 on these dead birds have for many years been published annually 

 by H. Winge in »Videnskabelige Meddelelser fra Naturhist. For- 

 ening«. This eminent zoologist writes to me, in a letter dated 

 March 27, 1903, as follows: — »In one of the first years, the contents 

 of the stomachs were systematically examined, later on only occa- 

 sionally, but the stomach has always proved to be empty, only 

 rarely some very slight traces of food have been found, viz. small 

 pieces of the testa of seeds, etc. (besides, in some cases, a little 

 sand or small stones, etc). Though I have had thousands of 

 dead migratory birds between my hånds, and have made a 

 habit of examining every single one, I have not as yet found any 

 seeds adhering to the feathers, beaks, or feet. Small crusts or 

 lumps of dried mud or clay occur fairly often on the beaks and 

 feet of birds such as wading-birds, larks, starlings, etc; whether 

 these crusts or lumps contain microscopical germs, has not yet 

 been ascertained (they may undoubtedly do so), but seeds, such as 

 may be discerned by the naked eye or with a pocket-lens, have 

 not been found.« 



As the above observations are made by so careful and eminent 

 an investigator, I must consequently believe that birds at least 

 very seldom carry seeds and other larger reproductive organs, and 

 small piants, across great distances, and the indisputable evidences 



1 See, e. g. A. de Candolle: Géographie botanique raisonnée, II, p. (513; 

 Darwin: The Origin of Species, chap. XI; Wallace: Island Life, 1880; Sernander: 

 Den skandinaviska Vegetationens Spridningsbiologi, 1901. In regard to Greenland, 

 see Warming: Gronlands Vegetation, 1888, pp. 203— 213. The immigration to 

 the Færoes has been discussed by Ostenfeld (pp. 112— 118 above) and Borgesen 

 (pp. 201— 203 above), but especially by Wil le in Hotaniska Notiser, 1897. 



