268 Seed-Carriers 



provided with long bristles, something like a shepherd's 

 crook, the hooked part being so closely fitting and 

 elastic as to grasp the finest hairs, if drawn across the 

 back of the hand. It grasps them so tight, moreover, 

 as to pull them out, sooner than let go. The highlands 

 where this sedge abounds are the spots generally first 

 touched by migratory 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 — the east coast of North 

 America, that is, and the adjacent islands, among 

 which the Bermudas are visited by large numbers of 

 these migrants. 



Birds, such as the puffins, which burrow in the 

 earth, get their feathers covered with vegetable mould, 

 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 very particular in 

 keeping 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 



