56 THE STOMACH. 



our severe winter, perish not from the inclemency 

 of the weather, but the deficiency of food; for in- 

 stance, our little Wren is just as active and cheerful 

 in the severest frost as the warmest summer's day, 

 his supply of food, consisting of small insects, con- 

 cealed under the bark of trees, never failing him. 



As a proof that small birds are not affected so 

 much by temperature as want of food, Captain King* 

 observed the lesser Redpole existing without appa- 

 rent inconvenience in a climate, and at a season, 

 when the thermometer was not unfrequently at seven 

 degrees below zero, and in the inclement atmosphere 

 of Cape Horn, on the desolate shores of Terra del 

 Fuego, Humming-birds were constantly seen Cover- 

 ing over the blossom of a species of Fuchsia, when 

 the jungle composed of this shrub was partially 

 covered with snow. 



There is another singularity in this mysterious 

 liquid, namely, the different force with which it acts 

 on the various substances used for food by different 

 birds. Thus the gastric juice in the stomach of 

 those birds which live on flesh, acts very sparingly 

 on vegetable substances. On examining the cast- 

 ings or pellets of some eagles, which had been occa- 

 sionally fed with dead pigeons, it was found, that 

 the vegetable food, peas, wheat, and barley, which 

 had been swallowed by these birds of prey, enclosed 

 within the crops of the pigeons, remained entire, 

 being only somewhat enlarged by heat and moisture ; 

 though the fleshy substances, even to the very 

 bones, were entirely consumed t. 



* King's Narrative, vol i., p. 199. 

 f Zoological Journal, vol. x., p. 186. 



