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and that the curdy substance, or milky secretion 

 of pigeons, may also be found in the crops of 

 many other birds, such as the parrot, trogon, heron, 

 rook, &c. The remarkable thing in the pigeon 

 is, that the secretion is quite as abundant in the 

 male as it is in the female ; and a friend of mine 

 discovered that the process was going on in the 

 male after it had ceased in the female. This is a 

 striking provision of nature, as when the female, 

 having hatched, goes to nest again, which she will 

 sometimes do before the young are half grown, 

 the feeding of them devolves on the male, who 

 also supplies nourishment to his mate during the 

 latter period of incubation, when she sits close or 

 hard, as it is called. If, from any cause, the eggs 

 do not produce young birds, the breeders of fancy 

 pigeons take care to give the female an opportu- 

 nity of getting rid of her secretion, by allowing her 

 to feed other young pigeons, or, as their phrase is, 

 feeding off her soft meat to keep her in good 

 health. In both sexes this secretion serves the 

 purpose of a macerating solution to soften dry 

 corn, or other hard substances, collected as food. 

 The curd-like appearance of this secretion in the 

 crop, is, perhaps, effected by the action of the gas- 

 tric fluid, the orifices for the passage of which 

 open into the oesophagus, immediately below the 

 cavity forming the crop. 



A similar lactation in the female Crocodile is 



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