CHAPTER V 
ORGANS OF NUTRITION 
fgs——wai\N other pages we shallconsider some of the things 
| (Mt upon which birds feed, and shall see how surely 
- the methods used in the search and capture of 
this food mould the bird’s structure, modifying its form 
from beak to toe; and now is it not possible to find some- 
thing of interest in the food after the bird swallows it? 
Indeed even before the swallowing takes place, if we 
watch carefully we may notice something which we did 
not before know. 
‘ 
y 
In the first place the bill of a bird is, of course, a 
primary factor, not only in procuring food, but often in 
killing and preparing and also holding it while it is being 
made ready to swallow. Less confusion will result, how- 
ever, if we leave the consideration of the beaks and bills 
to a later chapter. 
After the bill (which corresponds to our mouth and 
lips) come the glands of the mouth and here we again 
enter the portals of physiology,—for some unknown 
reason dreaded by many of us, and systematically shunned, 
as dry and ultra-scientific. On the contrary there are 
interesting facts awaiting us in all its branches. After 
a brief consideration of the more important, we shall 
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