Organs of Nutrition 135 
portion—known as the proventriculus—is the smaller, and 
contains very active digestive glands, sometimes ar- 
ranged in patches, but more usually forming a band. If 
the lower part of the cesophagus of an English Sparrow 
is removed, slit open and washed, these glands can be 
easily seen, being more of a rose tint than the paler tissue 
of the portion nearer the mouth. The walls are thicker 
in this glandular area. This can be seen to better ad- 
vantage in a young chicken, 
where the glands take the 
form of conical protuber- 
ances which dot the entire 
surface. Nature has pro- 
duced curious modifications 
of this typical fore-stomach, 
as in snake-birds, which have 
the glands of this portion en- 
closed in a sac, in shape not 
unlike a small crop. Here 
the food is softened and acted 
Fig. 106.—Glands of the stomach of a upon chemically by the secre- 
ee tions from the walls. 
The second division of the stomach is the gizzard, 
an organ made to perform most powerful compressing 
motions, thus crushing and macerating the food, so that 
when passed on into the intestine, every particle of nour- 
ishment may be extracted from it. When we think of 
beauty of colouring in birds, it is their plumage which 
at once presents itself to the mind, and yet a gizzard 
has a real beauty both of shape and hue. This organ, 
