134 



The Bird 



of digestion lower down. Here, as in man\' other in- 

 stances, we have a condition very similar to that in some 

 reptiles — crocodiles in particular. These ravenous scaly 

 creatures have such powerful organs of digestion that even 

 bones are dissolved, but the stomach is comparatively 

 small, and when a crocodile makes a large meal, it is at 

 first stored away in the wide gullet. 



The Stomach and Gizzard 



In the present chapter we might easily be led into 



details which would strand 

 us in the midst of dry 

 technicalities, but we will 

 try to avoid all this and 

 choose only the interesting 

 facts. 



The chief organ of di- 

 gestion, in birds as in other 

 animals, is of course the 

 stomach. In many fish- 

 eating birds this organ is 

 merely a simple, more or 

 less enlarged chamber, rather 

 crop-like except that it con- 

 tains numerous digestive 

 glands. 



The typical bird-stom- 

 ach, however, is compound, 

 or formed of two more or less distinct parts. The first 



Fig. 105. — Caracara, showing crop dis 

 tended with food 



