64 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



must fill itself with insects at least five or six times a day in 

 order to supply his alimentary wants. If a hundred insects, 

 therefore, of any kind are found at one time in the crop of a 

 bird, upon dissection, we may believe that this number is no 

 more than a fifth part of the quantity he consumes in the course 

 of one day. It is worthy of remark that a very small part of 

 any insect or grub is nutritious, the most of it consisting of its 

 shelly coverings and hairy appendages ; we ought not to be 

 surprii-ed, therefore, that a bird must swallow a large quantity 

 of insects to obtain a small quantity of nourishment. 



There is one circumstance connected with the examinations of 

 a bird's alimentary contents, that has often led to false infer- 

 ences. It is a fact that a few kernels of corn, taken by the 

 bird in the morning, will frequently be found in the gizzard at 

 night, while a whole multitude of insects and grubs, swallowed 

 at a later period of the day, are entirely digested, and have 

 disappeared from the contents of the stomach. If a blackbird, 

 having swallowed a few kernels of corn in the morning, and 

 afterwards more than a quarter of a pound of insect food, be 

 killed by a jealous farmer at night, he would believe, upon dis- 

 secting it and finding only a few kernels of corn in its gizzard, 

 that he had ocular proof that the bird fed almost exclusively 

 upon corn. The insect food has digested and disappeared, 

 while the corn remains almost unaltered ; for it is remarkable, 

 that if several kinds of food are swallowed by an animal, and 

 especially by a bird that does not masticate its food, the digestive 

 organs will select that portion which is most needful to supply 

 the wants of the system, or that which is most agreeable to its 

 nature, and not until all this is digested will it act upon the 

 remainder. By experimenting upon poultry, this fact may be 

 clearly demonstrated. 



But I will now proceed to relate a few facts, which I have 

 selected from a variety of sources. A farmer's boy in Ohio, 

 observing a small flock of quails in his father's cornfield, 

 resolved to watch their motions. They pursued a very regular 

 course in their foraging, commencing on one side of the field, 

 taking about five rows, and following them uniformly to the 

 opposite end. Returning in the same manner over the next 

 five rows, they continued in this course, until they had explored 

 the greater portion of the field. The lad, being suspicious that 



