44 INTERNAL STRUCTURE. 



it is said, will at one repast, if hungry, devour as many fish 

 as would suffice for half-a-dozen people ; and, like the Gulls 

 above mentioned, will in confinement snap up rats and other 

 small quadrupeds. The Gannet, another fishing bird, has 

 been known to swallow an entire cod of moderate size, and a 

 Puffin kept in a menagerie to eat as much fish as its whole 

 body weighed. Well might the eye-witness to such an 

 extraordinary exhibition of gluttony declare, that " he never 

 saw so unsatiable a devourer ;" and what was still more sur- 

 prising, " that the body did not appear to swell the bigger."* 

 Of the destructive character of Herons with regard to fish 

 some idea may be formed, from no less than five eels having 

 been found in the stomach of one which was shot. Voracity 

 is not, however, entirely confined to the fishing tribe, for 

 some that live upon fruits can dispose of an equally surprising 

 quantity. For instance, the Cedar Bird of America, a sort 

 of Jay, will devour every fruit or berry that comes in its 

 way ; and will gorge itself to such excess, as sometimes to 

 be unable to fly, and may be taken by the hand. Some, 

 indeed, although wounded and confined in a cage, have eaten 

 apples until suffocation deprived them of life in the course of 

 a few days ; and when opened, they were found to be 

 crammed to the very mouth. 



Very frequently in woods, or solitary places, round balls, 

 or lumps of semidigested substances, composed of small 

 bones, claws, feathers, hair, &c., may be found on gateposts 

 or rails. These are the discarded remnants of food thrown 

 from the gullets of Hawks, Owls, &c., which, if allowed to 

 pass into the stomach, might remain so long in an undis- 

 solved state as to prove injurious to the living bird. To 

 defend the tender lining of this inner passage, the sides and 

 under-surface of the tongue, and the upper part of the gullet, 

 are furnished with numerous glands, supplying a slimy 

 moisture which softens the gullet and smooths the way for 

 the admission of the hard substances which are occasionally 

 introduced. 



In the upper and back part of the palate of the Ostrich, 



* EVELYN'S Memoirs. 



