310 VERTEBRATA. AVES. 



they were held in the bill, he at last swallowed, not 

 even leaving the beak or legs of his prey. The 

 last part gave him the most trouble, but it was clear 

 to me that he felt great enjoyment ; for whenever 

 he raised his prey from the perch, he appeared to 

 exult, now masticating the morsel with his toothed 

 bill and applying his tongue to it, now attempting 

 to gorge it, and now making the peculiar clattering 

 noise, accompanied by the shivering motion above 

 mentioned. The whole operation, from the time 

 of seizing his prey to that of devouring the last 

 morsel, lasted about a quarter of an hour. He then 

 cleaned his bill from the feathers by rubbing it 

 against the perches and bars of his cage. While 

 on this part of the subject, it may be as well to 

 mention another fact, which appears to me not 

 unworthy of notice. I have more than once seen 

 him return his food, after he had taken it, from 

 his crop, and after masticating the morsel awhile 

 in his bill, again swallow it : the whole operation, 

 particularly the return of the food to the bill, bear- 

 ing a strong resemblance to the analogous action 

 in the ruminating animals. The food on which I 

 saw him so employed was a piece of beef, which had 

 evidently been macerated some time in the crop. 

 "While masticating it, he made the same hollow 

 clattering noise as he made over the remains of the 

 Goldfinch. Previous to this operation he had ex- 

 amined his feeding trough, in which there was 

 nothing but bread, which I saw him take up and 

 reject ; and it appeared to me that he was thus re- 



