Organs of Nutrition 



133 



captivity, owls and hawks are never so healthy and active 

 when fed on flesh}^ meat alone, as when a dead mouse or 

 sparrow, rat or pigeon is given occasionally. In dissecting 

 specimens which have had nothing but a flesh diet for a 

 year or more, I have found the throat and gullet in a very 

 bad condition, as if the lack of some scouring process, 



Fig. 104. — Food-pellets ejected by Great Horned Owl, containing 

 remains of rodents. 



such as is afforded by the pasage up and down of the 

 indigestible hair and feathers, had actually resulted in 

 the death of the bird. I have seen owls tr}^ to eat the 

 straw on the floors of the cages, when not provided with 

 food in the condition in which they find it when at lib- 

 erty. 



In cormorants and birds of similar voracious fish-eating 

 habits, the entire gullet serves as a receptacle for food, 

 while the fish first swallowed are undergoing the process 



