POULTRY TRIBE. 237 



their young on insects, as many do. They are 

 provided with the means of adapting the food they 

 eat to the tender stomachs of their fledglings. 



All birds which feed much on vegetable matter, 

 have a portion of the gullet capable of enlarge- 

 ment, so as to hold a considerable quantity of 

 food ; this is called the craw, or crop. In doves, 

 there is a peculiar substance secreted in the crop, 

 in appearance not unlike curd, and somewhat 

 answering to milk in quadrupeds. This is mixed 

 with the food given by the parent birds to their 

 twin brood (for there are but two, usually a male 

 and a female) not, as is usually done, from the 

 bill ; but they put their own beak fairly into that 

 of the young one, and force up and deliver the 

 already half-digested food, by a peculiar action of 

 the gullet. But, though these birds are princi- 

 pally vegetable eaters, they also pick up insects 

 and various kinds of snails, which they swallow, 

 generally shell and all. They are partial to salt. 



We have four species of dove found wild in 

 Britain. The RING and the STOCK DOVE are both 

 resident inhabitants of the woods. The ROCK DOVE 

 dwells in rocks, near the sea ; and the TURTLE 

 DOVE is a summer visitant of the woods, and 

 found only in some localities ; the latter being the 

 only true DOVE (scientifically) as distinguished 

 from the PIGEONS. 



