4 
history op? 
ve T numerous, with longitudinal opening 
which fend forth a whitifh and vifcous fuh 
hance. After the dry food of the bird has bee<' 
macerated in the crop for a convenient time, 
then pa lies into the abdomen, where, inftead of 
a loft moift ftomach, as in the rapacious kinds 
the food is ground between two pair of mufcles’ 
commonly called the glzard, covered on the in, 
hv.e w th a ftony ridgy coat, and altnoft cartila- 
ginous. Thefe, rubbing againft each other, are 
capable of bruiting and comminuting the hard- 
en tub Trances, their ah': on being often compared 
to them of the grinding teeth in man and other 
animals. Thus Tie organs of digeftion in qua- 
•feds are in a manner reverfed in birds. 
EemT nrft grind theirs with their teeth, and it 
pi lies into the ftomach, where it is macerated 
and fortened ; on the contrary, birds of this 
: fir ft macerate it in the crop, and then it 
:• ground and comminuted in the ftomach. 
o hey are alfo careful to pick up fand and gra- 
vel, and other hard fubftance-s, not in order to 
grind the food, as is commonly imagined in the 
ftomach, but to prevent the too violent aftion 
of the oppoiite mufcles againft each other. 
The variety of methods which nature has ta- 
ken to furnifh the globe with creatures perfect- 
ly formed to indulge al! their peculiar appetites, 
defer ves our wonder ; but wondering is not the 
way to grow wife. "W e fliall find the general^ 
