FEEDIN 7 G OP THE YOUNG. 193 



resisting putrefaction for a considerable time ; neither 

 will curd, much pressed, become putrid so soon as 

 either blood or meat*." 



We have been more particular in giving these 

 statements of an admirable observer at length, 

 because even in works of high character, most 

 vague and erroneous accounts of the facts are pro- 

 mulgated. We are told, for example, by M. Vieillot, 

 that " the male and female are equally attentive to 

 the young, and both feed them with aliment half 

 digested, like broth (alimens a demi-digeres comme 

 de la bouillie) ; but by degrees they give them more 

 solid food ; grain, namely, which they have swal- 

 lowed more hastily, and which they disgorge after it is 

 somewhat softened, according to the age of the young 

 pigeons f." We find the same statement, word for 

 word, in Temminck's General History of Pigeons J.; 

 Griffiths says *' the parents disgorge the food which 

 they have amassed and placed in reserve in their 

 crop ;" and Selby says " the young remain in 

 the nest till they are able to fly, and are fed by the 

 parent birds who disgorge into their mouths the 

 food that has undergone a maceration, or semi- 

 digestive process in that part of the oesophagus, 

 usually called the crop or craw ||." 



We have not been able to trace the origin of this 

 error in physiology, which seems to be so generally 

 diffused in books of natural history. Colonel Mon- 

 tagu appears to be the only original observer who 

 confirms the account given by Hunter. " The 

 rook," he says, "has a small pouch under the 

 tongue, in which it carries food to its young. It is 



* On the Animal Economy, p. 194. 

 f Diet. 1'Histoire Nat. xxvi. 329. 



J Vol. i. p. 160. 



$ Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, Birds, viii. 272. 

 || Illustrations, p. 287. 



S 



