the well known fact, that birds confined in cages, 

 and having no sand or small stones supplied to 

 them, soon die, and that when examined, their 

 intestinal canal is found with indigested seeds in 

 it ; which, otherwise, is not the case. In order to 

 ascertain the power of the gizzard, Reaumeur 

 gave to a turkey, small tubes of glass five lines in 

 length and four in diameter ; in twenty-four hours 

 these were found to be broken. He substitu- 

 ted tubes of tinned iron for the glass, some of 

 which were indented by the gizzard, and others 

 flattened. Similar tubes placed in a vice requir- 

 ed a force of four hundred and thirty-six pounds 

 and a half to produce the same effects ! 



All birds, however, have not a gizzard. Some, 

 as birds of prey in general, possess a purely mem- 

 branous stomach ; but such are furnished with 

 strong, sharp and crooked bills, for the purpose 

 of tearing their food into small pieces, so as to 

 supersede the necessity of any further trituration. 



But it is far from my intention to enter fully 

 upon the anatomy and physiology of the feather- 

 ed race of beings. In another part of this work 

 I have alluded to some of the beautiful adapta- 

 tions of their structure to the circumstances and 

 destinies they are intended to fulfil ; and the 

 facts detailed in this chapter seem sufficient to 

 illustrate and confirm the proofs there given of 

 the wisdom displayed by the great Creator in 

 this department of the animal world. Nothing 

 can be more worthy of remark than the exhaust- 

 less, arid, if the expression be allowable, the ad- 



