264 THE BOTANY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 



plumed seed would be drifted by wind from Australia to 

 Christmas Island. 



2. Bird and bat-borne seed and fruit. By this class of 

 seed I mean those that are carried about by birds or fruit- 

 bats swallowing the fruit or seeds and afterwards passing the 

 seed in their excreta. Fruits and seeds dispersed by adhering 

 to fur or feathers are classed separately for they may be 

 dispersed by sea birds only, while this class require the aid of 

 frugivorous birds. 



Most of the seeds borne by birds and bats inter- 

 nally are enclosed in fleshy drupes, berries, and figs, but 

 it is certain also that a number of seeds of small hard 

 seeds or fruits such as those of the capsular Euphor- 

 biacece are also swallowed by birds and passed un- 

 harmed, though it is hard to see why a hard dry seed 

 such as those of Macaranga, and Sapium sceleratum (a plant 

 thus dispersed by birds in Fernando <le Noronha) should be 

 attractive to birds. Possibly also some of the fruits of the 

 Cypecraece and grasses found in Oceanic Islands have been 

 brought there by birds. 



Fruit-bats though fond of large-sized drupes do not 

 usually at least swallow tnem but flying to a neighbouring tree 

 nibble off the flesh and drop the stone on the spot. They 

 however eat figs greedily, swallowing the whole fruit. 



Christmas Island possesses at present as residents the 

 following frugivorous birds and mammal. A fruitbat, two 

 pigeons, Carpophagawhartoni and Chalcophaps natalis, the white- 

 eye Zosterops natalis and an occasional fruit or seed-eater 

 Merula erythropleura. All are endemic, but the Chalcophaps 

 is hardly distinct from the common Malay one. The white 

 pigeon Myristicivora has been seen on the island, blown over 

 in heavy gales, and a minah (Acridotheres) was shot on the 

 island during our visit but may possibly have been brought 

 over by a native. How many more birds have been driven 

 on to the island by the heavy gales and either perished or 

 managed to fly back again no one can say. Many waders, as 

 well as wagtails and a duck seem to come over regularly from 

 Java. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



