194 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



probable the use of the craw may be extended 

 further than is generally imagined ; for, besides the 

 common preparation of the food to assist its diges- 

 tion in the stomach, there are some species that 

 actually secrete a lacteal substance in the breeding 

 season, which, mixing with the half-digested food, is 

 ejected to feed and nourish the young. The mam- 

 ma? from which this milky liquor is produced, are 

 situated on each side of the upper part of the breast, 

 immediately under the craw. In the female turtle- 

 dove we have met with these glands tumid with 

 milky secretion, and we believe it common to both 

 sexes of the dove genus. The cormorant or pelican 

 genus possess no craw; but, to supply its place, they 

 have a loose skin at the base of the under mandibles, 

 capable of great distentiori, in which they carry fish 

 to their young *." 



The latter, there can be no doubt, is the fact with 

 regard to the manner in which the pelican feeds its 

 young; but it was universally believed in former 

 ages that this bird nourished its young with its own 

 blood, a legend vulgarly credited even in our own 

 times, for M. Larnini says it is a common practice 

 with the people at Barcelona to go every Sunday to 

 the cloisters in the cathedral, where there is a mena- 

 gerie kept for pelicans, in the expectation of seeing 

 them distribute their blood to their young f. This 

 story, it would appear, was also related of the vulture 

 by the Egyptians, who thence made that bird an 

 emblem of maternal tenderness \. 



It does not appear to be ascertained with whom 

 the fable respecting the pelican originated, but our 

 readers may like to see the statements of some of the 

 early authors. We shall content ourselves with 



*0rnith. Diet. Pref, first edit. 



f Buffon, Oiseaux, Ix. 5. 



J Horns Apollo, Hieroglyph, 





