136 DICK-CISSEL— DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 



and subdivided into several sections or genera, but has been of late 

 advanced to the dignity of a Family, Dicxida;, for which much might 

 be said ; but several forms have at the same time been erroneously 

 referred to it (Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mns. x. pp. 9-84) — among them 

 the Diamond-birds above mentioned. The Dicmidai range from 

 Nepal through India (where they have been called, but seemingly 

 without reason, Flower-pickers) and the Malay Archipelago to 

 China and Australia ; but to this Family have been referred a good 

 many forms which Dr. Gadow's researches prove to have no near 

 relationship to DicR'um proper. 



DICK-CISSEL, the nickname familiarly applied to the Black- 

 throated Bunting of writers, Spim or Empiza americana, a species 

 whose recent disappearance from localities which it formerly fre- 

 quented has not yet been explained by North-American ornitholo- 

 gists (cf. H. M. Smith, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xiii. p. 171). 



DIDAPPER or DIVED APPEE, an old name (cf. Shakespear, 

 Fenus and Adonis, line 86) for the Dabghick or Little GtREBE. 



DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. This consists chiefly of the Ali- 

 mentary Canal and its glandular appendages, the former, beginning 

 with the Mouth, is successively made up of the CESOPHAGUS, the 

 Stomach, the small intestine or "ileum," and the large intestine 

 or " rectum " (with the C^CA when present), which last opens into 

 the Cloaca. The glandular appendages are either proventricular 

 and other mucous glands, imbedded in the walls of the Canal, or 

 salivary glands, LiVER, and Pancreas, communicating with it 

 through special ducts. The function of the System is of two 

 separate kinds : first the preparation of the food, which is effected 

 in part mechanically and in part by chemically -acting secretions 

 of the accessory glands ; and secondly the absorption of the 

 " chyle," or prepared nutritive fluid, by means of the Lymphatic 

 System. 



The digestive process is as folloAvs : — The food taken into the 

 mouth is swallowed and passes through the oesophagus into the 

 stomach, assisted in its descent by the secretions of the salivary 

 and mucous glands. When there is a Crop, it is therein mixed 

 with saliva and water, and assisted by the heat of the body is 

 softened and acted upon in a preliminary way. It then enters the 

 stomach, where it meets with the secretions of the proventricular or 

 gastric glands. But beside being acted upon chemically it is 

 crushed and triturated in the gizzard, especially in graminivorous 

 and granivorous birds, which possess a strong muscular stomach. 

 Thus comminuted it is knoA\ai as " chyme," and passes through the 

 pylorus into the small intestine, in the first loop of which, the 

 " duodenum," it is mixed with the bile and pancreatic juice, these 



