A WOOD-PIGEON AND BEANS 



We are still ignorant of many details about birds and 

 berries. It is not quite clear how the seeds are not destroyed, 

 though experiments have shown that they are not injured, by 

 passing through the body of a bird. Kerner von Marilaun, 

 for instance, tried the fruits and seeds of 250 different plants 

 which were offered to seventeen birds, as well as to marmots, 

 horses, cattle, and pigs. He found that from seventy-five to 

 eighty-eight per cent of the seeds germinated afterwards so 

 far as regards the blackbird, song-thrush, rock-thrush, and 

 robin. Quail also bring seeds from Greece and the Ionian 

 Islands to Sicily. 



Mr. Clement Reid says : " Some years ago I found . . . 

 in an old chalk-pit the remains of a wood-pigeon which 

 had met with some accident. Its crop was full of broad- 

 beans, all of which were growing well, though under ordinary 

 circumstances they would have been digested and destroyed."^ 

 Such accidents are common. 



But it is not only birds which eat fleshy fruits and seeds. 



Even the tiny, industrious ant drags about seeds of certain 



plants. Sometimes they gather up corn or grasses, such as 



ant-rice, and store them for use in winter. They even bite 



off the growing root to prevent the seeds germinating and 



spoiling. Occasionally they seem to carry the seeds by 



accident, as, for example, those of the cow-wheat and a few 



others which resemble their cocoons in size, colour, and form. 



In other cases there is a little fleshy excrescence on the seed 



which they are fond of eating. Cyclamen, snowdrop, violet, 



and periwinkle seeds are supposed to be carried in this way. 



Many animals occasionally or regularly eat fruits. There 



are, for instance, the flying-foxes or fruit-eating bats of 



Madagascar and tropical countries, which may be seen hanging 



1 Reid, Origin oj the British Flora. 

 246 



