MODIFICATIONS OF THE DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 3 



In many birds, the stomach approaches in structure to that 

 of the carnivorous Mammalia, inasmuch as its muscular coat is 

 ver}'' thin, and not disposed into distinct portions or muscles. 



Fig. 96. 



Fig. 97. 



KiNGSFISHER. 



Thus, in the Falconine Birds, Fig. 96, Owls, Fig. 97, and 

 Kingsfishers, Fig. 98, that organ is very large, roundish, 

 scarcely compressed, with its muscular coat composed of fasci- 

 culi of muscular fibres arranged in a single series, and having 

 their two extremities blended with, or attached to, two thin 

 roundish tendinous spaces. Beneath or within this layer is 

 another, equally thin, of condensed cellular tissue ; and the in- 

 ner coat is thin, soft, and smooth, or slightly villous. In all 

 these birds, the oesophagus is very wide ; but it differs in form, 

 having in the Hawks, Fig. 96, an enlargement or crop, lying 

 on the right side of the neck ; while in the OWls, Fig. 97, it is 

 of nearly uniform width throughout ; and in the Kingsfishers, 



