Vegetable and Animal 
heather moors of Kirkconnel Moss (near Dumfries) and 
Flanders Moss (near Stirling), one comes, here and there, 
upon a small, dense tussock of thick grass, which is 
bright fresh green and as different as possible from the 
neighbouring vegetation. Moreover, the grasses of these 
tufts are not moorland species, but regular pasture or 
roadside forms. 
One finds at such places that the gulls are nesting 
on this part of the moor, and these patches have been 
naturally guanoed by them. Indeed it is by no means 
unlikely that sheep could change moorland into good 
grass simply by close grazing, and provided only the 
ground is dry enough. On the other hand what havoc 
has been caused in Greece, Spain, and even in our own 
moorlands by the ravages of sheep, goats, and cattle! 
The result of their hunger is to leave only a curious 
collection of poisonous, strongly smelling or otherwise 
inedible shrubs instead of pine woods and rich grass 
pastures. 
In Australia, which has a flora of a very ancient type, 
there are many poisonous plants. Many animals are 
killed every year by the deadly Mirbelia and Gastro- 
lobium. Even strong oxen will die in six hours after 
eating the leaves. Dogs which eat the flesh of the cattle 
may also be poisoned by it. Pigeons, however, eat the 
seeds and are not injured, and when such birds are 
cooked, they are quite good to eat.© Even in Britain 
many really poisonous plants still exist. In lochs, 
marshes, and elsewhere, the poisonous Equisetums 
(palustre, silvestre, and arvense) are by no means rare. 
These species had ancestors in the coal-measure days, 
who no doubt protected themselves against whatever 
animal ate their foliage by similar poisons. 
The wild animals of a country, or even domestic 
cattle, when allowed to graze freely with an old beast 
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