54 
THE GULLET. 
some pieces of wood, of considerable size, several 
large nails, and a hen's egg, entire and uninjured, 
were discovered ; and in another, in addition to some 
long cabbage-stalks, were masses of bricks, of the 
size of a mans fist. 
This large space and capacity of the gullet is 
clearly intended to counterbalance the disadvantages 
of uncertain subsistence. Thus, Herons and Cor- 
morants will devour as much fish at once, as will 
last them for a long time. 
There is another peculiarity, too, in the gullets of 
fish-feeding birds, that it is usually wider near the 
mouth, thus enabling them to gulp down their slip- 
pery food in an instant, without giving them an op- 
portunity of escaping. In all these birds, the width 
and space of the gullet does away with the use of 
the crop, which is accordingly, in this class of birds, 
exceedingly small, or altogether wanting. 
The crop is furnished with a number of vessels 
secreting an oily fluid, something similar to the 
liquid in the gullet just mentioned. In such birds 
as feed their young from the crop, these vessels are 
observed to swell considerably at that particular 
time, in order to provide a great increase of this 
unctuous liquid. Those who have kept Turtle-doves, 
or Pigeons, must be familiar with the manner by 
which the young birds receive their food, almost 
thrusting their heads down the very throats of the 
old ones, to reach the nourishment provided in the 
enormous crops of their parents, where this lubri- 
cating liquid is provided in great quantity, when the 
nestlings are young; but decreases in abundance as 
they grow older, and require less nourishing food. 
