154 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



digastric muscle, the gizzard is evidently not to be 

 classed with those of the granivorous birds. The 

 bustard is of this kind ; its gizzard is not unlike that 

 of the raven. It has a thick cuticular lining, and a 

 weak digastric muscle, but the gastric glands are 

 uncommonly large ; so as to have attracted the 

 attention of M. Perrault, who has given an account 

 of their structure, saying, that they are conical tubes 

 terminating in a point at one end, and open at the 

 other, and are larger than in any other bird except 

 the ostrich, whose solvent glands he appears not to 

 have examined. 



" As I have not had an opportunity of examining 

 these glands in the bustard, I must rest this account 

 upon the structure of the glands upon M. Perrault's 

 authority, as stated in the work on Comparative 

 Anatomy, published under the patronage of Louis 

 XIV. in 1676. 



" Understanding that the bustard in India is a 

 favourite bird for the table, and that all bustards are 

 there considered to be granivorous birds, I was unable 

 to reconcile this circumstance with the structure of its 

 digestive organs ; but this difficulty is solved by the 

 following account of the mode of feeding of this bird, 

 which is taken from Mr. Hunter's notes upon this 

 subject, who kept a cock-bustard a whole summer in 

 his garden. It died in November apparently from 

 the cold of the winter. He killed mice and sparrows 

 with his bill by pinching their heads, and then 

 swallowed them whole, even when of considerable 

 size. It was easy to observe a large mouse going 

 down his throat making a moving tumour till it came 

 to the turn of the neck : it then moved backwards, 

 and although out of sight, yet its progress was traced 

 by the feathers between the shoulders separating, and 

 closing again as soon as it passed into the gizzard. 

 It was fond of worms, and while the gardener was 



