224 THE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS 



and sink to the bottom ; the rest of the plant may die 

 down, the species being renewed the next season by the 

 buds which then renew their growth. Such buds enable 

 the plants to tide over the winter, and are called winter- 

 buds. 



C. Dispersal by animals. (i) Fungi growing in a pasture 

 commonly occur on the dung of browsing animals ; some 

 of the spores may have been carried thither by the wind, 

 but a common occurrence is that spores adhering to the 

 leaves of plants are eaten by animals and pass uninjured 

 through their food-canal. On the way they are partly 

 digested and this prepares them for germination. Some 

 fungus spores germinate with difficulty until acted upon by 

 a digestive juice. The dispersal of such plants is in the 

 first instance by wind, and in the second by animals which 

 further prepare them for germination. 



(2) Birds sometimes carry seeds great distances in mud 

 adhering to their feet. 



(3) Fruits and seeds form an important food for many 

 birds. They are attracted by the bright colours of fleshy 

 fruits, of which they eat the edible parts. Such fruits often 

 have either an indigestible, stony endocarp around the 

 seed, as in drupes like the Cherry and Brambles ; a hard 

 fruit-coat, as in the achenes of the Strawberry ; or, where 

 the endocarp is pulpy, as in berries, a hard seed-coat. 

 While the fleshy parts are digested, the protected seeds 

 often escape ; they may pass through the food-canal 

 of the bird, or be ejected in the pellet from the crop. 

 By these means they may be carried some distance from 

 the parent plant and be capable of germination. Thrushes 

 eating such fruits often pick off the fleshy part and by 

 a jerk of the head throw the stones away. 



Many examples of fleshy fruits are found in the hedge- 

 rows, a fact which is especially interesting when we 

 remember how important hedgerows are as nesting-places 



