DISEASES OF POULTRY. 253 



separated by the glands, which may be observed covering its 

 surface. 



The food, after passing the crop, goes through the remain- 

 ing part of the gullet into a cavity, shaped like a funnel, of 

 smaller dimensions. This is similar to the second stomach in 

 some quadrupeds, and is furnished with a large number of 

 glands. These glands may be called gastric glands ; they are 

 placed near each other, and are hollow. Their office is to 

 secrete a solvent or digestive fluid, and to discharge it through 

 a small opening into the cavity. When this fluid has diluted 

 and digested the food sufficiently, it is prepared to pass into the 

 gizzard. 



The gizzard is the last stomach, and is composed of a body 

 of very firm and dense muscles, and lined with a thick, gristly 

 membrane. Towards the cavity of the stomach, this lining 

 forms folds and depressions, which on the opposite surfaces 

 are adapted to each other. The gizzard is comparatively small 

 and narrow, and has its outlet near its entrance. It is calcu- 

 lated, in every respect, for producing very powerful trituration, 

 and is adapted to answer the purposes which are subserved by 

 grinding teeth in other animals. In consequence of the hard, 

 gristly structure of the gizzard, it possesses little sensibility, 

 and it is not uncommon for fowls to eat even when dying, 

 while in the case of other animals, in such a state, all food 

 becomes loathsome. 



The outlet of the gizzard discharges the digested food in the 

 form of paste, having a grayish color, into the chyle-gut, 

 which is the first of the intestines. This is situated on the 

 right side, depending into the belly, and joined at each end to 

 the liver. The liver prepares bile from the blood conducted to 

 it by the veins, and by means of a duct carries the bile from 

 the gall-bladder into the chyle-gut, in a downward direction, to 

 be mixed with the digested food. This peculiarity is different 

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