]50 FOOD OF POULTRY. 



CHAPTEK VIII. 



FOOD OF POULTRY. 



IN order to determine the best sorts of aliment for fowls, 

 experience in their management and close observation of their 

 habits are indispensably necessary. But to these advantages 

 must be joined some knowledge of their digestive apparatus, 

 both as to structure and functions. In the chapter on the dis- 

 eases to which fowls are liable will be found some anatomical 

 outlines of their more important organs. It will only be nec- 

 essary here, therefore, to make such observations in regard to 

 those functions which are connected with digestion, as will 

 prepare the way for a better comprehension of the whole sub- 

 ject of feeding these animals. 



It has been demonstrated, by the cruel experiments of Spal- 

 lanzani, that what may be called the gastric juice in fowls has 

 not sufficient power to dissolve their food, without the aid of the 

 grinding action of the gizzard. Before the food is prepared 

 for digestion, therefore, the grains must be subjected to a trit- 

 urating process, and such as are not sufficiently bruised in this 

 manner, before passing into the gizzard, are there reduced to 

 the proper state, by its natural action. The action of the giz- 

 zard is in this respect mechanical, and it serves as a mill to 

 grind the food to pieces, and then, by means of its powerful 

 muscles, presses it gradually into the intestines, in the form 

 of pulp. It is said that the power of this organ is so great 

 that hollow globules of glass have been pulverized by it, in a 

 very short time, and solid masses of the same substance, in a 

 few weeks. The rapidity of this process seems generally to be 

 proportionate to the size of the bird. A chicken, for instance, 

 breaks up such substances as are received into its stomach less 



