230 The Great World's Farm 



birds, and in some cases small birds are caught and held 

 so firmly by the sedge's hooks as to be quite unable to 

 escape. Larger and stronger birds of course get away, 

 but must carry many of the seeds with them; and these, 

 as the bristles wither and relax their hold, are dropped by 

 the way. Accordingly the sedge is plentiful all along the 

 track followed by these birds — that is, the east coast of 

 North America and the adjacent islands, among which 

 the Bermudas especially are visited by large numbers of 

 these migrants. 



Birds, such as the puffins, which burrow in the earth, 

 get their feathers covered with vegetable mold, which is 

 sure to contain spores and seeds, some of which may cling- 

 long enough to be carried at least part of the way, when 

 the birds leave their inland nesting-places for the coast, 

 where they spend the greater part of the year. 



Birds, it is true, are generally veiy particular in keep- 

 ing both beak and feet clean, but still sometimes they are 

 found with little cakes of earth adhering to them; and 

 seeds are so very common in all soil, that some no doubt 

 are transported in this way. Indeed, eighty-two plants 

 have been grown from the earth taken from the leg of a 

 single partridge, and that after the earth had been kept 

 three years. This partridge had carried as much as six 

 and a half ounces of earth on its leg; and what one has 

 done, others of course may do, and probably have done. 

 Still, dirt on feet and beaks is rare. 



The birds most likely to have muddy feet are naturally 

 the waders, and those which frequent the edges of ponds 

 and moist and muddy places. And these, if they carry 

 away mud, are certain to carry away seeds also, for damp 

 soil catches and keeps the seed dropped upon it in a way 



