o^^ciTHOLogr. Booki" 



why Birds fmall pebble ftones and fand or gravel, which together with their meat, they keep in 

 fwaIIowS their ftomachs ("no fuch thing mean time being found in their crops J by the help 

 whereof theforefaidMufcles, as it were two mill-ftones, bound faft together by their 

 two hinges, do grind and levigate the groffer and harder meat, and lo promote the 

 * Dt Giutat. digeftion of it. That this is fo ( faith * Dr. Harvey ) appears in many forts of birds • m 

 Anmai.Ex- w J w f c Gizzards, if the j mall 'ft ones or other hard and rough things remain long, by their 

 continual attrition they become fo worn and fmooth, that they are rendred unfit for th 

 comminution of their meat, and are therefore cajt out of the ftomach as u /clefs. Hen 

 birds when they chufe out ftones, they try them with their tongues, and if they find 'them not 

 to be rough, they reject them. So have I found in the ftomach of an Oftrich, and alfo of a. 

 Caflbware Iron, Silver, and ftones much worn and almoft confumed. Whereupon It is 

 commonly reported and believed, that they concoB Iron, and are ?20urijl:ed therewith If 

 yon lay your ear clofe to the bodies 0/ Falcons, Eagles, and other Birds of prey, while 

 their ftomachs are empty you may perceive the manifeft noife of the ftones thereinto fwaliow- 

 cd, ftrikjng oneagainft another. For neither do Hawks for cooling their Bodies ( as is the 

 common error of Falconers ) [wallow ftones, but for the comminution of their meat. In 

 tike manner other Birds, ( especially fuch as have a flefiy ftomach or gizzard for the grind- 

 ing of their food ) do for the fame purpofe jwaUow ftones, gravel, or fame fuch like thin? as 

 we (aid before. &0 



hivc S a °nS In terreftrial Birds of prey, and fome pifcivorous fowl, becaufe they feed upon 

 branous-fto- A eu \ which ea % meIts and diflolves in the ftomach ( being fofter than grain and 

 mach. needing little grinding) at leaft is quickly macerated by its acid ferment, the fto- 



mach is rather membranous than mufculous. For Birds of prey tear the fleih with 

 their beaks, which difpofes it to conco&ion. Whence alfo carnivorous Quadrupeds 

 have ferrate teeth, for tearing the fleih of their prey from the bones 5 neither do they 

 chew their meat much, as do tame beads, and other herbivorous and granivorous 

 Animals. It fuffices them to tear it to fmall pieces, and by a chop or two of their teeth 

 ftrongly to pinch, crufh, or bruife it. For this kind of contufion difpofes it to cor- 

 ruption, and perchance a more quick and fpeedy one, than if it were ground fmall 

 by a long maftication. 

 The Echinus In many Birds the Gullet immediately above the ftomach is dilated into a certain 



or Ante-no- 1 ~„ :*. 1: : tt ^..:_i^ _ i- _i .1 11 n » . 1 „ . ^v«u 



mad?- °" ba S> as ? were a liminary Ventricle, which they call Echinus, becaufe in fome birds it 

 hath its inward Superficies rough with many excrefcences 5 in others it is only thick 

 fet, or as it were granulated with very many papillary glandules, out of which a muci- 

 laginous juice is eafily prcfled : This juice being by thefe glandules excerned into the 

 ftomach,and there mingled with the meat,ferves for a Menftruum to macerate,diflblve 

 and change it into Chyle. 



m orthnd " M ° ft Bilds haVC tW ° blirid gUtS ° r Appendices, as they call them : the Heroa-kjnd 

 guts° r nave but one 5 and the Woodpecker-kind none. Among fuch as have two, all carnivo- 



rous fowl, and all that we call fmall birds, have very fmall and fhortones, cloven- 

 footed Water-fowl, of a mean length, whole-footed Water-fowl, long ones 3 and 

 Poul try-kind, "the longeft of all. The Appendices in Birds have a contrary fite to the 

 blind gilts in Quadrupeds. For in Quadrupeds the blind gut feems to be nothing die 

 * The colic but the * Colon, continued or produced from the fundament upward, making acute 

 S ut - Angles with the gut called Ileum 5 but in Birds the Appendices defcend from the fto- 



mach downwards toward the Fundament, making acute Angles with the gut called 

 Reef urn. What the uie of thefe Appendices or blind guts in Birds and beafts may be, I 

 confefs my felf not clearly . as yet to underftand. 



bibd t "tf eal- In moft Bi rds we have about the middle of the g uts obferved a certain fmall Appea- 

 led Andm'iri- clix or blind gut, like a little Worm, which is nothing elfe but the remainder of that 

 ujthOb. paffage by which the Yolk is conveyed into the guts of the young chicken. In fome 

 birds this is very confpicuous, being of half an Inch, or almoft an Inches length ; In 

 others it is much (hotter and fmaller, and in fome again it is wholly obliterated and 

 difappcars. The ufe of this paffage Mr. Nicolas Steno did firft find out, or at leaft firft 

 publiih to the world the invention of. It is true indeed it was known to us before we 

 law his Book, I think we had the firft notice of it from Dr.Walter Needham. However 

 the glory of the Invention is of right due to him, who firft communicated it to the 

 The Yolk wor ^- Ariftotle, Fabricius ab Aquapendente, Dr. Harvey, and others, have obferved 

 how convey- a great part of the Yolk to remain in the Chickens belly after exclufion, yet did they 

 ed into the not know that it was by this paffage as it were by a funnel conveyed into the guts, but 

 thought that by the mediation of capillary veins difperfed through it, it was by de- 

 grees liquefied, and received immediately into the bloud. 



The 



guts 



