276 THE BIOLOGY OF THE SEASONS 



obtaining from one bird no fewer than eighty germinating 

 seeds. 



This classic case may be quoted : " Professor 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 6 oz. 

 The earth had been kept for three years, but when broken, 

 watered, and placed under a bell glass, no less than eighty- 

 two plants sprung from it ; these consisted of twelve 

 monocotyledons, including the common oat, and at least 

 one kind of grass, and of seventy 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 embedded in 

 dirt, adhering to their feet or beaks ? " 



A third method of dispersal is by means of parachutes, 

 which make it easier for the fruits to be carried by the 

 wind. We see the thistle-down and dandelion-down with 

 their beautiful hairy parachutes " sailing before the wind." 

 It is interesting to watch one enter by the open window 

 of a railway carriage, sail around once or twice, touching the 

 cushions for a moment, and then move on again, finally 

 passing out where it came in. There is something curiously 

 animal-like in its visit of inspection. An unforgettable 

 sight is a flight of clematis fruits each a nutlet tipped 

 with a long white feathery plume. It is the hoary appear- 

 ance of the ripe fruits, massed together on the hedge, that 

 gives the plant one of its common names, Old-Man's- 

 Beard. When the fruits are set free by the breeze, the 

 plumes are often entangled in long rows, which float off 

 with a beautiful undulating motion, like silver serpents in 



