54 THE STOMACH. 



This portion of tlie digestive organs is the most 

 capacious in what is called the gallinaceous or 

 poultry tribe, which feed chiefly on grain, requiring 

 much softening; and there, accordingly, we find the 

 food retained, till it is sufficiently softened to pass 

 onwards to the stomach. And in this tribe it almost 

 forms a distinct bag, as may be easily seen on ex- 

 amining a fowl, the gullet opening into it at the 

 tipper part, and quitting it about the middle. Its 

 texture is very fine and thin; so much so, that the 

 craw of a full-sized Turkey w r ill contain nearly a 

 quart, and when scraped and varnished, is sufficiently 

 light to form small air-balloons, for which purpose 

 they are now prepared, and sold in London. 



We next come to the part called the second 

 stomach, which, like the rest of the digestive organs, 

 varies very much in size, and internal arrangement. 

 In some birds it is extremely small ; in certain cases, 

 as in the Kingfisher, it is actually wanting; whereas, 

 in the Ostrich it considerably exceeds even the 

 real stomach, being capable of holding several 

 pints of water. It is in this cavity that the grand 

 business or process of digestion is carried on, it being 

 abundantly supplied with a number of glands or 

 vessels, secreting that very curious liquid, called the 

 gastric juice, which acts most powerfully on every 

 variety of food. They are called the solvent glands 

 on this account; and, as birds generally require a 

 more rapid digestion, they are larger, and more dis- 

 tinct from the other organs of digestion, than in 

 other animals. 



There may also be another reason why this liquid 

 may be more essentially necessary for birds, which 



