OF SELBORNE. 3 



The sternum in this bird seemed to us to 

 be remarkably short, between which and 

 the anus lay the crop, or craw, and imme- 

 diately behind that the bowels against the 

 back-bone. 



It must be allowed, as this anatomist 

 observes, that the crop placed just upon the 

 bowels must, especially when full, be in a 

 very uneasy situation during the business of 

 incubation ; yet the test will be, to examine 

 whether birds that are actually known to 

 sit for certain are not formed in a similar 

 manner. This inquiry I proposed to my- 

 self to make with & fern-owl, or goat-sucker, 

 as soon as opportunity offered : because, if 

 their formation proves the same, the reason 

 for incapacity in the cuckoo will be allowed 

 to have been taken up somewhat hastily. 



Not long after a fern-owl was procured, 

 which, from its habit and shape, we sus- 

 pected might resemble the cuckoo in its 

 internal construction. Nor were our sus- 

 picions ill-grounded ; for, upon the dissec- 

 tion, the crop, or craw, also lay behind the 

 sternum, immediately on the viscera, be- 

 B 2 



