THE WAY OF A SEED 



more often, 

 perhaps, the 

 seeds are 

 carried by 

 ground ani- 

 mals ; by rats 

 and squirrels. 

 Pheasants 

 sometimes do 

 the work. 

 You may 



watch companies of pheasants under any 

 oak round a preserved wood ; and if you 

 watch close, an easy thing to do while 

 the pheasants are tame and young, you 

 may see an unfortunate gourmand scuttle 

 away in great discomfort over the vain 

 effort to swallow an acorn of excessive 

 girth. That acorn is likely to be sown in 

 a much more effective spot than under 

 the shadow of the parent tree. 



The seeds of many of the luscious 

 fruits are carried abroad about the land 

 by birds ; and for the most part passed 

 through their bodies. The nutty fruits, 

 in which Nature's efforts are chiefly 

 directed to the preservation of a seed 

 that is in no degree attractive to the 

 eyes or nose, are dispersed by animals 

 of all sorts ; but the dispersal has in 

 this case, if one may say so, nothing 

 causal in it ; and on the whole little advantage occurs 

 to the species except by a sort of accident, and that habit 



BEECH-MAST 



