48 ON THE WINGS OF THE WIND. 



together at last into a common berry : sometimes, as in a 

 fig, the general flower-stalk of several tiny one-seeded 

 blossoms forms the edible part : and sometimes, as in the 

 strawberry, the true little nuts or fruits appear as mere 

 specks or dots on the bloated surface of the swollen and 

 overgrown stem, which forms the luscious morsel dear 

 to the human palate. 



Yet in every case it is interesting to observe that, while 

 the seeds which depend for dispersion upon the breeze 

 are easily detached from the parent plant and blown 

 about by every wind of doctrine, the seeds or fruits which 

 depend for their dispersion upon birds or animals always, 

 on the contrary, hang on to their native boughs to the 

 very last, till some unconscious friend pecks them off and 

 devours them. Haws, rose-hips, and holly-berries will 

 wither and wilt on the tree in mild winters, because they 

 can't drop off of themselves without the aid of birds, 

 while the birds are too well supplied with other food to 

 care for them. One of the strangest cases of all, however, 

 is that of the mistletoe, which, living parasitically upon 

 the forest-boughs and apple-trees, would of course be 

 utterly lost if its berries dropped their seeds on to the 

 ground beneath it. To avoid such a misfortune, the 

 mistletoe berries are filled with an exceedingly viscid and 

 sticky pulp, surrounding the hard little nut-like seeds : 

 and this pulp makes the seeds cling to the bills and feet 

 of various birds which feed upon the fruit, but most par- 

 ticularly of the missel thrush, who derives his common 

 English name from his devotion to the mistletoe. The 

 birds then carry them away unwittingly to some neigh- 

 bouring tree, and rub them off, when they get uncom- 



