BIRDS OF WEAK STOMACH 91 



prepare it for the tender stomachs of the young — 

 a necessary preparation, for only while writing this 

 book I was told of a case of a young captive Thrush 

 being killed by being fed with worms by its human 

 rearer, the annelids having fairly forced their way 

 through the tender tissues out of the young bird's 

 body. 



This I can quite believe, as, though I have not 

 witnessed such a misfortune myself, I have had 

 birds of mine, which had eaten too many maggots, 

 pass them not only undigested, but alive, and this 

 not only in the case of a very tiny species, the 

 Crimson- backed Flower-pecker {Dicaum cruen- 

 tatuni), but even such a large one as the Gold-backed 

 Woodpecker {Brachypternus aurantius) ; with soft 

 vegetable food, too, I have seen the Crimson-breasted 

 Barbet or " Coppersmith " {Xantholeetna hesmato- 

 cefhala) pass sultana raisins entire. This, however, 

 and also the Flower-pecker, are fruit-eaters espe- 

 cially ; and such birds seem to have the weakest 

 digestions of a^y, and correspondingly the greatest 

 appetites ; they are always gorging, and pass the 

 food out in an almost unaltered condition, so that 

 the structure of food swallowed is plainly perceptible. 

 The same thing is noticeable with the fruit-eating 

 bats. 



So sketchy, if I may use the expression, is the 

 digestion of the little Tanagers of the genus Euphonia 

 (one of which, the Violet Tanager {E. violacea), is 

 not infrequently imported), the most typical fruit- 

 eaters of a group which gradually grades into the 



