156 THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



Although the beaks and feet of birds are generally 

 clean, earth sometimes adheres to them: in one case I 

 removed sixty-one grains, and in another case twenty two 

 grains of dry argillaceous earth from the foot of a part- 

 ridge, and in the earth there was a pebble as large as 

 the seed of a vetch. Here is a better case: the leg of 

 a woodcock was sent to me by a friend, with a little 

 cake of dry earth attached to the shank, weighing only 

 nine grains; and this contained a seed of the toad-rush 

 (Juncus bufonius) which germinated and flowered. Mr. 

 Swaysland, of Brighton, who during the last forty years 

 has paid close attention to our migratory birds, informt! 

 me that he has often shot wagtails (Motacillae), wheat- 

 ears, and whinchats (Saxicolae), on their first arrival on 

 our shores, before they had alighted; and he has several 

 times noticed little cakes of earth attached to their feet. 

 Many facts could be given showing how generally soil is 

 charged with seeds. For instance, Prof. Newton sent me 

 the leg of a red-legged partridge (Caccabis rufa) which 

 had been wounded and could not fly, with a ball of hard 

 earth adhering to it, and weighing six and a half ounces. 

 The earth had been kept for three years, but when 

 broken, watered and placed under a bell glass, no less 

 than 82 plants sprung from it: these consisted of 

 12 monocotyledons, including the common oat, and at 

 least one kind of grass, and of 70 dicotyledons, which 

 consisted, judging from the young leaves, of at least 

 three distinct species. With such facts before us, can we 

 doubt that the many birds which are annually blown by 

 gales across great spaces of ocean, and which annually 

 migrate — for instance, the millions of quails across the 

 Mediterranean — must occasionally transport a few seeds 



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