WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



makes a nest of her own feathers, lays her eggs, hatches them, 

 and remains with the young till they are fully fledged. During 

 all this time, which is stated to be two or three months, the 

 male continues to feed her and the young family. The prisoner 

 generally becomes quite fat, and is esteemed a very dainty 

 morsel by the natives, while the poor slave of a husband gets 

 so lean that on the sudden lowering of the temperature, which 

 sometimes happens after a fall of rain, he is benumbed, falls 

 down, and dies.' 



"It will be seen by this statement that the male dies from 

 exhaustion, doubtless produced by the constant and continual 

 reproducing, not only of the actual food taken by the male, but 

 of the supply of nutritive secretion in which the same is 

 enveloped. 



"Witliout, however, allowing this strange statement and 

 supposed discovery to remain simply, as many may think, an 

 unlikely story, let us consider whether there are any other 

 known facts bearing upon the point that will assist us in 

 arriving at a fair decision upon this extremely interesting 

 subject. 



"That parrots, pigeons, and many other birds reproduce their 

 partially digested food during the pairing and breeding season 

 for the support of the female and young is well known. The 

 tame male hornbill is particularly distinguished at all seasons 

 by this habit of throwing up its food, which he not only ofi'ers 

 to the female, but to the keepers and others who are known to 

 him. Tlie male concave hornbill {Buceros cavatus), now in the 

 Gardens, will frequently throw up grapes, and, holding them in 

 the point of the bill, thrust them into the mouth of the keeper, 

 if he is not on the alert to prevent or avoid this distinguished 

 mark of his kindness. 



"We have now to consider the facts brought forward. In 

 no class of animals do we find so many instances of the 

 frequent and easy mode of casting up or reproducing the food, 

 or the indigestible substances taken with the food, as in birds. 

 But there is more than this to be noticed, for instance, in 

 the esculent swallows. We know the so-called edible swallow's 

 nest consists of a gelatinous secretion from the glands of a 

 kind of swift ; and doubtless a portion only is used to form 

 the nest ; the secretion is, in all probability, continued to 

 feed the female and young, probably mixed with the insects 

 captured during flight. There is also a similar secretion from 



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