158 THE DISPERSAL OF SHELLS. 



found upon birds' feet, and this, perhaps, may some- 

 times cause small shells or eggs to adhere, or the crea- 

 tures may possibly become embedded in it. In one 

 case Mr. Darwin removed sixty-one grains, and in 

 another case twenty-two grains, of dry, argillaceous 

 earth from the foot of a partridge, and in the earth, as 

 already mentioned, was a pebble as large as a vetch- 

 seed.' As previously noted, also, a woodcock's leg, 

 once received by Mr. Darwin from a friend, had a little 

 cake of earth weighing nine grains attached ; and a 

 pigeon, shot in New South Wales in 1887, was found to 

 have a small ball of earth surrounding each of its legs ; 

 suddenly-flushed birds, I believe, are not unfrequently 

 found to have mud or clay adhering to their feet. In 

 the Field, in 1881, Mr. Tegetmeier figured the remains 

 of a young partridge, found dead by a correspondent, 

 destroyed, obviously, owing to its inability to drag about 

 the mass of clay which had become attached to one of 

 its feet. The claws, it seemed, had been first encrusted, 

 layer after layer having been subsequently added until a 

 mass of considerable size was formed. In poultry yards 

 and pigeon houses similar occurrences, it is said — never 

 allowed to become extreme -are frequently observed." 

 Professor Newton once sent to Mr. Darwin " the leg of a 

 red-legged partridge {Caccabis riifa) which had been 

 wounded and could not fly, with a ball of hard earth ad- 

 herino- to it, and weighing six and a half ounces." Mr. 

 Swaysland, as is more important for us to notice, several 



' " Origin," p. 328. 

 W. B. Tegetmeier, " Field," Iviii. (1881), p. 330. 



