360 PIGEON'S MILK. 



hills, far removed from rivers.* Many seeds also 

 vegetate after having passed through the stomachs 

 of birds, as well as of quadrupeds. 



I have been induced to make these desultory 

 remarks, in the hope that some one, having more 

 time and ability than myself, will pursue those en- 

 quiries which may serve to elucidate facts in 

 natural history, thus enriching science, and adding 

 to the stock of useful information. Indeed, the 

 study of nature will afford an inexhaustible source 

 of pleasure, affording innocent and virtuous amuse- 

 ment, and occupying usefully, as well as agreeably, 

 that time which God has allotted to us, time 

 that foolish persons waste, but which a dying man 

 would give worlds to command. 



The lactation by the crop in Pigeons is one of 

 the most curious phenomena in the animal eco- 

 nomy, and is deserving of much more attention 

 than has been hitherto paid to it by naturalists, 

 with the exception of the celebrated John Hunter. 

 It will probably be found that the crop is gradually 

 thickened, and the glands enlarged, during the 

 period of incubation in most birds, just as the milk 

 glands are prepared during gestation in mammalia ; 



* Persons who have resided much in the East Indies are per- 

 fectly aware of the fact, that ponds having no communication 

 with rivers, and which have become perfectly dry and sandy in 

 the hot season, having had fish in them after the periodicafrains, 

 This fact can best be accounted for by the supposition that birds 

 have conveyed the spawn of fish to them. 



