no A HISTORY OF BIRDS 



frequently to forget — do much towards distributing the nuts of 

 such trees as beeches, oaks and hazels. 



Some valuable evidence as to the important part birds play 

 in the dispersal of seeds has been brought together by Mr. 

 H. N. Ridley, who found that in the Malay Archipelago the 

 principal carriers were Bulbuls, the dark-blue Starling {Calornis 

 chalybea), the Minah {Mainatus savatus), and the Horn-bills 

 {Buceros, Anthracoceros, etc.), the latter being especially fond of 

 the nutmeg. The Parrots of the Genus Palcsornis also aided in 

 this work. The granivorous Finches of the Genus Munia he 

 found aided considerably in the dispersal of adhesive seeds 

 which were carried about by the feathers and finally dropped. 

 He states that, on the authority of Mr. G. Clunies Ross, on 

 Cocos Islands "when Boobies are not nesting, and have con. 

 sequently left, the Frigate-birds {Tachypetes aquila) are unable 

 to procure their ordinary food, which consists of fish taken from 

 the Boobies, and that they then swallow seeds of Guilandina 

 and beans which they find floating on the sea, and on flying to 

 the land vQmit them up again, apparently merely using them 

 to fill up temporarily empty crops ! " He further shows that 

 while the bulk of the seeds dispersed by birds are highly coloured, 

 dull-coloured seeds are dispersed by nocturnal mammals who 

 seek their food by smell and not by sight. 



The mud adhering to the feet of birds furnishes another 

 source of seed dispersal, for seed becomes embedded therein and 

 may be transported over vast distances, though this, probably, 

 plays no very important part in the distribution of plants. 

 Not infrequently, perhaps, small seeds are carried in the plumage. 

 Instances of the latter kind rest, however, rather upon circum- 

 stantial evidence than upon established cases. The granivorous 

 birds are supposed to act as seed distributors in this fashion. 

 Certainly, small Finches and Gallinaceous birds which love to 

 dust themselves in dry earth, may well enclose small seeds 

 between the feathers during this operation. Migrant waders, 

 it has been suggested, carry seeds of marsh plants about 

 in this manner, and one observer- — -Mr. H. N. Ridley — has re- 

 corded the fact that a number of plants of Rhynchosposa aurea 

 suddenly appeared in a stone tank in the Botanic Gardens at 

 Singapore after the visit of a small Sandpiper. 



The evidence as to seed borne in mud adherent to the feet 



