"PIGEON'S MILK." 361 



expressive of any useless action, or improbable 

 occurrence, the expression "pigeon's milk" fre- 

 quently passes current as one of those things 

 which exist only in name. Among some classes, 

 however, the belief that pigeons really produce 

 milk for the support of their progeny is enter- 

 tained, and has been sanctioned by antiquity. 

 Modern anatomists have shown, that, anomalous 

 as the fact may appear, such is nearly the state of 

 the case, and that the young of the pigeon are in 

 reality fed by a milk-like secretion of the crop of 

 the parent. In this process of feeding, the male is 

 as much, or even more concerned than the female. 

 The milk-like secretion with which the young are 

 fed by these birds is found in the organ called the 

 crop of the pigeon, which is formed in a peculiar 

 manner so as to enable the bird to produce this 

 fluid food for the use of its progeny. At the time 

 when the young birds are being reared, this organ 

 becomes much enlarged. For some time the 

 young pigeons are fed with this substance only ; 

 but about the third day some of the common food 

 is found mingled with it ; and as the pigeon grows 

 older the proportion of common food is increased ; 

 so that by the time it is seven, eight or nine days 



