THE STOMACH. 47 



In the upper and back part of the palate of the Ostrich, 

 there are two remarkable reservoirs from which a very 

 tenacious mucus may be expressed of infinite importance 

 to the bird: for it is so little choice in its food, that in 

 the stomach of one belonging to the King, which died 

 at Windsor, and was forwarded to the Zoological Society 

 for dissection, some pieces of wood of considerable size, 

 several large nails, and a hen's egg, entire and uninjured, 

 were discovered; and in another, in addition to some 

 long cabbage-stalks, were masses of bricks of the size of 

 a man's fist. 



This large space and capacity of the gullet is clearly 

 intended to counterbalance the disadvantages of uncertain 

 subsistence. Thus, Herons and Cormorants will devour 

 as much fish at once as will last them for a long time. 



There is another peculiarity too in the gullets of fish- 

 feeding birds, that it is usually wider near the mouth, 

 thus enabling them to gulp down their slippery food in 

 an instant, without giving them an opportunity of escap- 

 ing. In all these birds the width and space of the 

 gullet does away with the use of the crop, which is ac- 

 cordingly, in this class of birds, exceedingly small, or 

 altogether wanting. 



The crop is furnished with a number of vessels secreting 

 an oily fluid, something similar to the liquid in the gullet 

 just mentioned. In such birds as feed their young from 

 the crop, these vessels are observed to swell considerably 

 at that particular time, in order to provide a great increase 

 of this unctuous liquid. Those who have kept Turtle- 

 doves or Pigeons, must be familiar with the manner by 

 which the young birds receive their food, almost thrusting 

 their heads down the very throats of the old ones, to 

 reach the nourishment provided in the enormous crops 

 of their parents, where this lubricating liquid is provided 

 in great quantity when the nestlings are young; but 

 decreases in abundance as they grow older, and require 

 less nourishing food. 



This portion of the digestive organs is the most capa- 



