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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, Ave 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 

 surprised, therefore, that a bird must swallow a large quantity 

 of insects to obtain a small quantity of nourishment. 



There is one circumstance connected with examinations of a 

 bird's alimentary contents, that has often led to false inferences. 

 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 disap- 

 peared from the contents of the stomach. If a Black-bird, 

 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 digest- 

 ive organs will select that portion which is most needful to 

 supply the wants of the system, ov that which is most agreea- 

 ble 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 corn-field, re- 

 solved 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 



