WILD ANIMALS IN CAPTIVITY 



the interest that would be attached to the circumstance 

 and not knowing the nature of the substance, carelessly 

 threw the castings away. I happened, however, to be 

 present when the last sac was thrown up, and secured it 

 for examination, and have handed it over to our prosector 

 Mr. Forbes, for that purpose. 



This remarkable fact being now known to occur in two 

 widely separate genera of birds, induces me to believe 

 that the habit may exist in many other birds, but it has 

 hitherto been unobserved. In many cases the substance 

 would sink to the bottom of the water, where it would 

 soon decompose, and this may account for its not having 

 been previously noticed. 

 . I feel particularly anxious to call the attention of persons 

 keeping cormorants, and of those persons visiting the haunts 

 of cormorants, to this habit, as it is highly probable that 

 this bird does the same thing. — (From the Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society, 1881.) 



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