142 FACULTIES OF BIRDS, 



to be thrown up eighteen, twenty, or at most twenty- 

 four hours after they were received into the stomach. 

 But the bread was not, and the same thing took 

 place when the quantity of bread was increased to 

 six ounces. My last experiment upon bread was 

 to substitute the crust instead of the crumb ; but the 

 result was just the same ; and notwithstanding the 

 eagle had shown so little appetite for this kind of food, 

 its health did not appear to suffer. I was obliged to 

 conclude, that this species of vegetable is digested, 

 and converted into real nutriment, as well as animal 

 matters. I could not therefore refuse to accede to 

 the opinion of those who affirm that eagles, when 

 much pressed by hunger, will feed upon bread, though 

 mine would not touch it. 



" I had before observed that the eagle devours the 

 smaller bones of dogs and cats along with the flesh. 

 When I gave that in my possession a bird, it would 

 also swallow all the bones, except those of the extre- 

 mities ; and as they were not thrown up, there was 

 good reason for believing that they were digested ; a 

 circumstance that exactly agrees with my observations 

 on falcons and various other birds. But greater cer- 

 tainty being desirable, two pieces of the rib of a small 

 dog, each about two inches long, w ; ere tied together, 

 and two thigh-bones of a cock ; this packet was re- 

 tained twenty-three hours, but the bones were very 

 much altered during that time. The two pieces of rib 

 were reduced to the thinness of a membrane ; the 

 least violence was sufficient to break them ; they 

 were totally inelastic, and had lost all their marrow. 

 The two thigh-bones now resembled tubes of parch- 

 ment ; they were easily compressible, and when left 

 to themselves recovered their shape, and after being- 

 bent they would become straight again. Upon one 

 of the bones thus wasted and altered, there was a 

 very singular appearance: about one-fifth was still 



