Seeds propagated by Animals a?id the Winds. 139 



commence. The bear is a great wanderer, and very partial to 

 wild fruits ; * whilst cherries and haws are often swallowed 

 entire by thrushes, which subsequently eject the stones of the 

 former. Under these circumstances, therefore, it is highly 

 probable that birds contribute largely towards the geographical 

 distribution of plants. 



It seems a law in nature, that after a Canadian pine 

 forest has been burned down, the larch, aspen, alder, poplar, 

 and birch take the place of the cone-bearing trees; just as 

 around the deserted log camps, we find the great willow herb 

 (£. angustifolium). 



No doubt, however, many seeds are conveyed by the winds, 

 some dying from falling in the shaded forest, or in situations 

 inimical to germination, while the pine and spruce seeds that 

 would have replaced the parent tree were destroyed by the 

 fire. Moreover, such birds as the crossbills, redpolls, and pine 

 finches, who feed on seeds of birch, alder, mountain ash, etc., 

 probably convey them to the burned lands, where they readily 

 take root. I have often remarked in the first growth on 

 such tracts that the young birches and maples were growing 

 in clusters, the former being the most numerous, as we should 

 expect when we compare the numerical arrangement of their 

 seeds in the catkin of the birch and the capsule of the maple. 



As may be easily supposed, the boundless forest tracts of 

 this region present tempting retreats for woodpeckers, of 

 which four species are resident and about as many migratory. 



Conspicuous alike from his dark mantle, white head, and 

 scarlet crest, as his large size, is the BLACK WOODCOCK, 

 or Log Cock of the settlers {P. Pileatus). This, the king 

 of our scansorial birds, is fully eighteen inches in length, and 

 inhabits the dense forest ; although nowhere common, it is 

 generally diffused over all suitable localities, where its loud 



* I have frequently observed its dung, and also that of the black bear 

 of the Himalayas, made up almost entirely of the seeds of wild fruits. 

 — See " Wanderings in India." 



