THE GULLET. 
43 
it opens into the third stomach or gizzard, D, (ventriculus 
callosus?) communicating with the intestinal canal or bowels, 
E, which vary very much in length in different birds, though 
on the whole they are shorter than in the class of four-footed 
animals. The annexed plate is merely intended to convey a 
general idea of the stomachs of birds, and must by no means 
be depended upon as an accurate representation applicable to 
any particular family, since in each there is a marked 
variation with respect to the size, form, and other internal 
arrangements ; a full explanation of which, though extremely 
interesting, from the beautiful adaptation to the habits of the 
bird, cannot in this little work be attempted; a few, how- 
ever, may be briefly pointed out. 
Thus, in what are called the carnivorous birds, feeding on 
flesh or fish, containing hair, feathers, or bony substances, 
which are of difficult digestion, the gullet is of a vast size 
and capacity compared with the other parts, often exceeding 
in width the stomach itself. In some of the water birds it 
is large enough to contain even a whole fish till the proper 
stomach is ready to receive it. In watching Cormorants at 
a distance with a telescope, they may be sometimes seen 
quietly reposing, with their mouths halt* open, and the tail 
of a fish hanging out, the remainder gorged in their capacious 
gullet : and Sea-Gulls will swallow bones of three or four 
inches in length : the lower end only reaching the stomach, 
whilst the rest continues in the gullet, and slips down 
gradually, in proportion as these lower ends are consumed. 
The usual food of Gulls consists of fish ; but when con- 
fined they will thrive very well on a diet with which they 
must be perfectly unacquainted by the sea-side. We may 
form, too, some idea of their voracity, from the quantity 
consumed by a Gull kept and fed in a garden, which de- 
voured in one day fourteen mice and two rats. Another was 
seen to swallow an entire rat, — an operation, however, not 
accomplished without some difficulty, the bird making several 
efforts before it succeeded, and even then the tail remained 
visible for several minutes. But the voracity of Gulls is 
exceeded by some other fish-eating birds. Thus the Pelican, 
