ANIMAL FEEDERS. 71 



flight, or, at all events, indisposed to it, after a hearty 

 meal. Their food they must take during the day, 

 and not after dusk, and yet it seems that they require 

 the digestive process to be going on constantly ; and 

 thus the moderately-sized gizzard, and the supply in 

 the craw, are remarkably well adapted to their habits ; 

 so that, after taking an abundant supply of food, they 

 are nearly as fit for flight as when they are empty. 



The carnivorous birds, especially vultures, and 

 other species which feed upon the carcasses of the 

 larger animals, when these are killed by other 

 casualties, are remarkable for the opposite structure 

 of the alimentary system, and for indolence after a 

 full meal. Their stomachs are membranous and 

 simple, and their intestines short, and without any 

 caecal appendages, so that the process of digestion is 

 with them a much more simple matter. But when 

 they have made a hearty meal, the full stomach presses 

 upon and retards the action of the other parts of their 

 viscera, or, at all events, the process of digestion 

 monopolises the whole of their energy ; so that, 

 though birds of long and powerful flight when 

 hungry, they are so reluctant to take the wing after 

 feeding, that they may be knocked down with a 

 stick, or taken with the hands, without making much 

 resistance. 



Their power of enduring hunger seems to be in 

 proportion to that of taking food directly into the 

 stomach, and converting it into nourishment by a more 

 simple apparatus ; and, unless when they are forced 

 from their retreats by hunger, they are far more 

 retired and uiet than the vegetable feeders. The 

 same analogy holds between the carnivorous and 

 the herbivorous mammalia, the former come abroad 

 only at particular times, the latter are habitually upon 



