ON THE CROP OF BIRDS. 53 



a case, a longitudinal incision may be made in the crop, its 

 contents removed, and, the incision being sewed up, the 

 fowl will, in general, do well. 



Another curious fact relative to this subject was stated by 

 Mr. Brookes, when lecturing on Birds at the Zoological 

 Society^ May 1827. He had an Eagle, which was at 

 liberty in his garden : happening to lay two dead rats, 

 which had been poisoned, under a pewter bason, to which 

 the Eagle could have access, l)ut who nevertheless did not 

 see him place the rats under it, he was surprised to see, 

 some time afterwards, the crop of the Bird considerably 

 distended; and finding the rats abstracted from beneath the 

 bason, he concluded that the Eagle had devoured them. 

 Fearing the consequences, he lost no time in opening the 

 crop, took out the rats, and sewed up the incision: the 

 Eagle did well and is now alive. A proof this of the acute- 

 ness of smell in the Eagle, and also of the facility and safety 

 with which, even in grown Birds, the operation of opening 

 the crop may be performed. 



The rapacious Birds, and some others not granivorous, have 

 also crops, but they vary considerably in form, and, of 

 course, in size. The crop of the Pigeon is peculiar, con- 

 sisting of two divisions; the secretion in which, at certain 

 times, is not less peculiar than its structure. It appears 

 that, as soon as the joung Birds are hatched, a whitish-ash- 

 colourcd fluid is there secreted, both in the male and fe- 

 male, in abundance, with which they feed for some time the 

 young before they feed them with grain ; so that, although 

 Pigeon^s milk would be considered a solecism, yet this fluid 

 seems to be very much like milk in its properties. The 

 Pigeon, when at maturity, is, perhaps, the most purely gra- 

 nivorous of all the tribes of Birds. But many of the grani- 

 vorous Birds feed their young with insects and worms. In- 



