324 Poachers and Poaching. 



space within a few hours. It is known that at 

 certain seasons thousands of these beautiful 

 pigeons are killed, not only by man, but by 

 predatory animals and birds ; and their long 

 migratory journeys as a possible means of 

 dispersal becomes at once evident. As bearing 

 on this particular subject, Darwin has proved 

 that the hard seeds of fruit pass uninjured through 

 even the digestive organs of a turkey. In the 

 course of two months he picked up in his garden 

 twelve kinds of seeds out of the excrement of 

 small birds which seemed perfect, and some of 

 them germinated. The crops of birds do not 

 secrete gastric juice, and consequently do not in 

 the least injure germination. Darwin forced 

 many kinds of seeds into the stomachs of dead 

 fish, and then gave them to fishing eagles, storks, 

 and pelicans in the Zoological Gardens. The 

 birds, after long intervals, either ejected the seeds 

 in pellets or passed them ; after which several 

 kinds still retained the power of germination. 

 In the tropics countless swarms of locusts some- 

 times suddenly make their appearance, and as 

 suddenly vanish. They cover every leaf-bearing 

 thing, and occasionally denude whole districts of 

 their greenery. So great are their powers of 

 flight that they have been seen at sea nearly four 

 hundred miles from nearest land. In Natal the 

 farmers, rightly or wrongly, believe that the 

 locusts introduce injurious seeds upon their grass 



