290 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



During the singing he gazed attentively at me as if 

 seeking to note the effect of his music, taking no 

 notice of the wrens and sparrows which were flitting 

 about in the fallen thorn. As I stepped towards the 

 tree on which he was perched he uttered a harsh note, 

 a shriek of protest, as it were, at my intrusion ; then 

 giving two or three vigorous strokes with the wings, 

 he folded these organs close against his body, and, 

 with a peculiar gliding motion, passed swiftly into a 

 bushy oak shrub a hundred yards away. 



VIII. 



The student of nature soon learns to notice the 

 interdependence existing among all forms of living 

 objects. All animals are wholly dependent upon 

 plants for their existence, for plants alone can change 

 inorganic matter earth, air and water into starch, 

 sugar and other organic food-stuffs for animals. 

 Plants alone can collect and store up in these foods 

 the radiant energy of the sun's heat and light, and so 

 transmit it to the animals within whose bodies it is 

 changed into animal force and used as nervous, mus- 

 cular and gland power to perform the duties of ani- 

 mal life. 



On the other hand plants receive many benefits 

 from animals. Insects carry the pollen from flower 

 to flower and so aid in the fertilization and cross fer- 

 tilization of the plants. To bring about the visitation 

 of insects to the reproductive parts or anthers on 

 which the pollen is produced, the plants have developed 

 honey secreting glands about the base of the anthers 



