PLANTING TREES, SHRUBS, AND VINES 131 



the fruits, to secure the fleshy mass as food; and 

 in many cases the seeds are carried a considerable 

 distance and then left in various ways ; either by 

 being dropped accidentally or ejected from the 

 mouth or crop, or by being unaffected by the 

 digestive juices as they pass through the aliment- 

 ary canal, so that they still retain their vitality 

 after being ejected. Opportunity is thus given 

 the plant to germinate its seeds under favorable 

 conditions at a distance from the parent plant, 

 and thus its range is extended. There is undoubt- 

 edly much to be learned along this line from a 

 field study of the food-habits of birds during the 

 autumn and winter. 



An examination of these lists of birds and fruits 

 gives some idea of the variety of fruit eaten by 

 various birds ; and the columns in the table show- 

 ing the percentage of wild and cultivated fruit give 

 an idea of the quantity of fruit eaten. In general 

 those birds which eat the greatest variety of fruit 

 are the ones which eat the largest quantities. Thus 

 a comparison of these two features may give one a 

 fairly good idea regarding the birds that will be 

 attracted by various fruits. 



Most Desirable Fruits. — It is a matter of 

 quite common observation that on the whole the 

 best single tree to plant is the mulberry, either the 



