Holly Berries

Abstract

WILL some learned botanist, or Darwinian theorist, kindly inform me through the columns of NATURE why some holly berries appear obnoxious to birds? This is a great holly neighbourhood, and there are at present several trees actually loaded with ripe berries; the ground is also thickly strewed with berries beneath the trees, and yet not a single species of bird appears to eat them. Last winter the holly trees bore an abundance of berries, but the majority of the trees were stripped by the migratory Turdi, &c., as early as the beginning of February. I presume, in the “struggle for existence” these berries, obnoxious to birds, will stand a better chance of propagating and increasing that peculiar variety, and in course of time raise a distinct and well marked species.