CHAPTER VII 



RELATIONS TO THE ANIMATE ENVIRONMENT 



Relation to plants. Birds and pollination. Birds and spread of seeds. 

 Birds in relation to other animals. The perils of nestling birds. Birds and 

 " civilisation ". 



THE fact that birds in any way modify their animate 

 environment is generally, if at all, but vaguely real- 

 ised ; whereby it is plain that this influence is too 

 subtle, or too small, to make itself felt. Nevertheless, careful 

 observation will show that though the part they play may be a 

 small one, birds do indeed leave their mark upon the organic 

 world, though it be but a ripple-mark on the surface of the 

 great ocean of life. 



In the plant world such 

 forms as the Sun-birds and 

 the Humming-birds play 

 the part of insects in the 

 pollination of flowers. But 

 since it does not appear 

 that these flowers are ab- 

 solutely dependent upon 

 the birds for pollination — 

 that is to say, these same 

 flowers are probably more 

 commonly visited by in- 

 sects which perform the 



III. 19.— Humming-bird Fertilising work of pollination quite as 

 Flowers of Marcgravia Nepenth- rr t. ri 

 OWES. (After Wallace) ettectually — we may turn 



with more profit to the facts 



which have been collected with regard to the part played by 



birds in the dispersal of seeds. 



Here there can be no doubt but that, in a large number of 



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