238 GLIMPSES INTO PLANT-LIFE 



feathers of birds that visit pieces of inland water, 

 and are widely distributed by them in their flight 

 from one lake to another. 



Darwin has shown by careful experiment that 

 the mud clinging to the feet of various birds almost 

 always contains seeds. A wounded partridge had 



COCOS UK MKK. 



a ball of earth weighing six and a half ounces 

 adhering to its legs. From this earth Darwin 

 reared no less than eighty-two separate plants of 

 five distinct species. Seas and rivers also do their 

 part in dispersing seeds. The huge nuts of the 

 Cocos-dc-mcr palm, which grows only upon the 



