KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



279 



learn, however, a good deal, by examining a very 

 lean young fowl ; when, on removing the feathers 

 from the side of the belly nearest the gizzard, its 

 motion can be both felt, seen, and heard. On 

 pressing with the finger, the muscles will feel to 

 the touch as hard as stones ; when they relax, 

 the grain, upon which they were theD working, 

 passes on, and a further supply, as in the case of 

 the mill, passes under these natural rollers. These 

 alternate actions succeed each other slowly but 

 regularly ; and on placing the bird close to the 

 ear, as the food and stones roll under the pressure 

 of the muscles of the gizzard, a sound not unlike 

 the noise of the tide rolling upon a shingly shore 

 may be distinctly heard at intervals, as if the 

 waves were ebbing and flowing; and during all 

 this process, the gastric juice slowly flows in from 

 the lower part of the gullet or second stomach, 

 and mingles intimately with the digesting food. 



We have stated that the fowl best calculated 

 for this examination should be a full-grown young 

 one ; but although, in this immature state, the 

 gizzard is fully developed, if we were to dissect a 

 chick we should rind not a vestige of a gizzard, 

 but merely a thin pellicle or skin. And it is for 

 this reason, that whereas the young fowl is never- 

 theless old enough to live entirely on grain, and 

 therefore requires the assistance of a gizzard, the 

 little chick, on emerging from its shell, for a short 

 time lives on soft food, and requires no such 

 aid. As it advances in age, however, the 

 pellicle gradually thickens; till at last, by pressure 

 and rubbing, it becomes a hard and grinding 

 membrane. 



From the different construction and digestive 

 powers of the stomachs of birds, it must be evi- 

 dent that some are able to continue a much 

 longer time without food than others. An Eagle 

 has been known to fast for three weeks : those 

 who had the charge of it having forgotten to 

 provide its usual supply of food. It soon however 

 recovered its strength, and did not appear to 

 suffer from its extraordinary abstinence. How 

 long other birds can sustain hunger, we can have 

 few opportunities of learning ; but probably it will 

 be found that such as are most likely, from their 

 habits and particular sort of food, to be more 

 exposed to a precarious and doubtful supply, are, 

 generally speaking, best provided against the 

 chance of suffering. But this is not always the 

 case, for Geese and Fowls, which are rarely 

 without the means of supplying themselves, have 

 been known to remain a surprising length of time 

 in a fasting state. A favorite hen, which had 

 been missed for upwards of four weeks, was 

 fortunately found at the bottom of a deep well, 

 by a person who went down to repair it : the 

 poor bird, when discovered, was perched on a 

 small piece of timber floating on the water, and 

 when taken up was in a very exhausted state, 

 but soon recovered. 



A Goose was accidentally shut up in a shed, and 

 supposed to have been carried away by a fox, 

 when, at the expiration of three weeks, it was 

 discovered alive ; for a few days it continued in a 

 weak state, but gradually resumed its strength. 



Having taken a short view of the frame-work 



and internal construction of a bird, with reference 



>■ to the disposal of its food, we shall next consider 



some other of the vital functions, commencing 



with those of breathing and voice. The lungs of 

 men and animals occupy, as is well known, a 

 large portion of the chest ; whereas, in birds, the 

 space occupied is not only much smaller, but the 

 lungs themselves are of a more firm and compact 

 texture. At the same time they are most plenti- 

 fully supplied with air-cells, communicating with 

 other cells, profusely distributed over every part 

 of the system : by this, their bodies are in a 

 manner blown up and rendered buoyant ; a con- 

 siderable portion of the skeleton, moreover, as we 

 have shown, being formed into receptacles for 

 this light and elastic fluid, of which birds partake 

 in so much greater a degree than most other 

 portions of the creation. In fact, a bird, destined 

 as it is to live in air, may be almost called an 

 absolute air-vessel ; so completely does air fill up 

 and circulate throughout its whole frame ! While 

 men and other land animals breathe in air through 

 the nostrils alone, a bird respires through a 

 variety of other channels. A wounded Heron 

 was observed to live a whole day, breathing 

 solely through a broken portion of the wing-bone.* 

 Other experiments have confirmed the fact. The 

 fractured portion of a bone that had been separated, 

 when immersed in soap and water, was observed 

 to emit bubbles from the part nearest the body ; 

 proving, beyond a doubt, that it contained air in 

 considerable quantities. 



The quills of the feathers are also air-vessels, 

 which can be emptied and filled at pleasure. 



There is a bird called theGannet,or Solan-Goose, 

 which is a beautiful instance of this wonderful 

 provision ; it lives on fish, and passes the greater 

 part of its time either in the air or on the water ; 

 even in the most tempestuous weather, when it 

 may be seen floating like a cork on the wildest 

 waves. To enable it to do so with the least 

 possible inconvenience, it is provided with a 

 greater power of filliug and puffing itself with air 

 than almost any other bird. It can even force 

 air between its skin and its body, to such a degree, 

 that it becomes nearly as light and buoyant as a 

 bladder. This buoyancy, however, entirely pre- 

 vents its diving after fish. Nature, therefore, 

 has applied a remedy by giving an extraordinary 

 force and rapidity of flight, in enabling the 

 creature to dart down on a shoal from a great 

 height. This velocity is so prodigious, that the 

 force with which it strikes the surface of the 

 water is sufficient to stun a bird not prepared for 

 such a blow, or force the water up the nostrils. 

 But the Gannet has nothing to fear from either 

 of those causes, the front of his head being covered 

 with a sort of horny mask, which gives it a singu- 

 larly wild appearance ; and it has no nostrils, a 

 deficiency amply remedied by the above-men- 

 tioned reservoirs of air, and capacity for keeping 

 them always filled. Some notion may be formed 

 of the rapidity of their descent by a curious mode 

 .of taking them, occasionally practised by the 

 fishermen in the North. A board is turned 

 adrift, on which a dead fish is fastened. On sc 

 it, the Gannet pounces down, and is frequently 

 killed or stunned by striking the board, or is 

 secured by its sharp-pointed beak being actually 

 driven into the wood, and holding it fast. 



There is another bird even more copiously sup- 



* See "Linnagan Transactions," vol. xi., p. 11. 



