Clare Island Survey — Phanerogamia. 10 85 



seeds. To show the richness of pond-mud which birds might carry on their 

 feet from place to place, he germinated 537 plants from a sample of it weighing 

 6| ounces. 1 



Kerner lists 21 species " whose fruit or seeds I found most frequently in 

 the mud taken from birds " ; but remarks that " the number of species of 

 plants which is dispersed in this manner is, it is true, but small. For the 

 most part they are waterside, and of these chiefly small annual species." 2 



About 10 per cent, of all flowering plants bear fruits or seeds armed 

 with hooks or hairs by which they may easily become attached to any 

 rough surface ; and, unquestionably, birds carry many seeds in this manner. 

 Again, Guppy 3 lists nearly 20 British phanerogams which have been observed 

 to become sticky when wetted, and which, on drying, adhere, often very firmly, 

 to any contiguous surface. This character must also tend towards the dispersal 

 of seeds by birds. But how far this occasional transport of seeds actually 

 affects the distribution of plants is, to a large extent, a matter of speculation. 



The local information which we can apply to the particular case of the 

 Clare Island flora is very scanty. The present avifauna of the island and of 

 the district is comparatively limited ; but it may have been larger when 

 much of the adjoining mainland supported pine forests and deciduous woods, 

 and when groves of trees flourished on the island. As regards purely local 

 movements, the ornithologists have little to tell us. "We do not know what 

 species of birds fly frequently to and fro between the island and the 

 mainland, nor at what seasons. 



In July I have observed a flock of about one hundred Eooks on the 

 island. They flew about the higher parts, and left in the evening for the 

 mainland. Whether similar incursions occur regularly we do not know, but 

 in summer and autumn Books may be constantly seen on the island. The 

 nearest rookery is at Louisburgh. 



W". E. Collinge's recent inquiry 4 into the food of the Book throughout 

 the year, in England and Wales, shows that the present food of this bird 

 consists mainly of cultivated grain. Surprisingly few other seeds were 

 found ; in twelve birds, out of 631 examined, were a few seeds of Charlock 

 and dock ; in sixteen, seeds of knot-grass, goose-grass, &c. ; eighty -four con- 

 tained "remains of fruit," mostly acorns, with a few currants and goose- 

 berries. No germination tests were carried out. From this it will be 

 seen that the Book is at present, in England and Wales, a very poor 



1 C. Darwin : Origin of Species, 6th ed., pp. 512, 386-387. 



2 A. Kernbb : he. cit., ii, p. 868. 



3 Guppy: Naturalist in Pacific, ii, p. 567, 568. 



i W. E. Collinge : The feeding-habits of the Rook. Eeport to the Council of the Land 

 Agents' Society- London: 1910. 



