HABITS OF BIEDS. 



BIRDS EJECTING THE INNER LINING OF THEIR STOMACHS 

 HORNBILLS — DARTER, ETC. 



There is probably no organ in the living animal that 

 performs so important an office as the stomach. It may 

 therefore appear incredible that, until I called the atten- 

 tion of the Zoological Society to the fact that certain 

 birds had the power of ejecting, not only the contents of 

 their stomachs, but the inner linings of their stomachs at 

 the same time, no one investigated the subject. When 

 these facts were first brought to notice they were looked 

 upon as impossibilities by some of the most able anato- 

 mists, but the proofs of the statements were of such a 

 character that they were admitted by all who were 

 acquainted with the subject, and I take this opportunity 

 of calling attention to the following paper of mine read 

 before the Zoological Society : — 



" A few weeks after the wrinkled hornbill {Buceros corrngatus) 

 was received in the Society's Gardens, tlie keeper called my 

 attention to a queer-looking fig-like substance lie had picked 

 up in the aviary. Struck with its appearance, I took it home 

 and endeavoured to examine it carefully, and opened its closely- 

 folded mouth. I found this fig-like bag contained plums or 

 grapes well packed together, the wrapper or envelope looking 

 much like the inner lining of a gizzard, somewhat tough, 

 elastic, and gelatinous. Almost alarmed for the safety of the 

 bird that had thrown it up, and at the same time having some 

 doubt as to its real nature, I at once sought the assistance of 

 our prosector. Dr. Murie, handing him the specimen and telling 

 him its history. 



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