52 THE GULLET. 



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 some- 

 times to be unable to fly, and may be taken by the 

 hand. Some, indeed, although wounded, and con- 

 fined 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. 



Yery 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 gate-posts or rails. These are the dis- 

 carded 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 undissolved 

 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 intro- 

 duced. 



In the upper and back part of the palate of the 

 Ostrich, there are two remarkable reservoirs, from 

 which a very tenacious mucus may be expressed, of 

 infinite importance to the bird: for it is so little 

 choice in its food, that in the stomach of one be- 

 longing to the king, which died at Windsor, and was 

 forwarded to the Zoological Society for dissection. 



