Birds 59 



Koenigii are possibly distributed in this way; further, the fleshy 

 fruits of Clerodendron inerme, Viteoc Negundo, and Vitis trifolia 

 serve as food for fruit-eating birds which frequent beaches and 

 forests. In the case, therefore, of nine of the strand-plants the fruit 

 is adapted for dispersal in the bodies of birds. Bearing in mind the 

 fact, as stated by Guppy and Beccari 1 , that fruit-eating birds are often 

 not over-critical in their choice of food, and do not feed exclusively 

 on fleshy fruits, and that the large size of seeds is not a fatal obstacle 

 to their being swallowed, it is probable that a still greater number 

 may be distributed endozoically. The inhabitants of the Cocos islands 

 often find the large spherical seeds of Caesalpinia Bonducetta, a 

 Leguminous member of the Krakatau strand-flora, in the stomachs of 

 frigate-birds. Seeds of considerable size (e.g. Muscat nuts) are often 

 met with in the crops and stomachs of fruit-eating doves, and Beccari 

 records the discovery of the seeds of a palm, Omnia aruensis, 6 cm. 

 in diameter, in the stomach of a Cassiowary. 



The importance of the dispersal of seeds in the crops and stomachs of 

 birds over long distances has often been called in question in view of 

 the very short interval, in the case of many birds, between eating and 

 ejecting their food. Kerner 2 found in thrushes' dung numerous seeds 

 of Ribcs three-quarters of an hour after the berries were eaten. Seeds 

 of Elder (Sambucus)?Lre known to have been ejected after an interval 

 of half an hour. The interval in the case of most birds is 1^ to 3 

 hours. In spite of the short period of digestion which characterises 

 fruit-eating doves their co-operation in the colonisation of Krakatau is 

 by no means impossible ; many birds fly with a velocity of 50 kilometres 

 an hour [31 miles], while doves may cover 80 or more kilometres 

 [50 miles] in an hour. It is therefore not impossible that birds which 

 have eaten fruit on the coastal regions of the Sunda Strait may 

 excrete digested but uninjured seeds on Krakatau after less than 

 an hour's flight. 



Among the plants in the interior of the island there are un- 

 doubtedly several which have reached the island by the agency of 

 birds. The seeds of various species of Ficus in particular owe their 

 introduction to transport in the stomachs or crops of birds. 



Schimper considers that the fig-trees which are abundant in the 

 inland regions of the Malay Archipelago owe their distribution to 

 this agency, and Guppy attributes the fact that fig-trees constitute 

 with Casuariua the commonest and most important trees in the 

 interior of the small coral islands of the Solomon Archipelago to the 



1 Beccari, O. Malesia, Vol. i. p. I. 



2 Kerner, A. Pflanzenleben,\i. p. 800. [The Natural History of Plants: English 

 translation, edited by Prof. P. W. Oliver, Vol. n. p. 864.] 



