THE GULLET. 53 



some pieces of wood, of considerable size, several 

 large nails, and a lien's egg, entire and uninjured, 

 were discovered; and in another, in addition to some 

 long cabbage-stalks, were masses of bricks, of the 

 size of a man's fist. 



This large space and capacity of the gullet is 

 clearly intended to counterbalance the disadvantages 

 of uncertain subsistence. Thus, Herons and Cor- 

 morants will devour as much fish at once as will 

 last them for a long time. 



There is another peculiarity, too, in the gullets of 

 fish-feeding birds, that it is usually wider near the 

 mouth, thus enabling them to gulp down their slip- 

 pery food in an instant, without giving them an op- 

 portunity of escaping. In all these birds the width 

 and space of the gullet does away with the use of 

 the crop, which is accordingly, in this class of birds, 

 exceedingly small, or altogether wanting. 



The crop is furnished with a number of vessels 

 secreting an oily fluid, something similar to the 

 liquid in the gullet just mentioned. In such birds 

 as feed their young from the crop, these vessels are 

 observed to swell considerably at that particular 

 time, in order to provide a great increase of this 

 unctuous liquid. Those who have kept Turtle doves, 

 or Pigeons, must be familiar with the manner by 

 which the young birds receive their food, almost 

 thrusting their heads down the very throats of the 

 old ones, to reach the nourishment provided in the 

 enormous crops of their parents, where this lubri- 

 cating liquid is provided in great quantity, when the 

 nestlings are young; but decreases in abundance as 

 they grow older, and require less nourishing food. 



