THE STOMACH. 
55 
This portion of the digestive organs is the most 
capacious in what is called the gallinaceous or 
poultry tribe, which feed chiefly on grain, requiring 
much softening ; and there, accordingly, we find the 
food retained, till it is sufficiently softened to pass 
onwards to the stomach. And in this tribe it almost 
forms a distinct bag, as may be easily seen on ex- 
amining a fowl, — the gullet opening into it at the 
upper part, and quitting it about the middle. Its 
texture is very fine and thin; so much so, that the 
craw of a full-sized Turkey will contain nearly a 
quart, and when scraped and varnished, is sufficiently 
light to form small air-balloons, for which purpose 
they are now prepared, and sold in London. 
We next come to the part called the second 
stomach, which, like the rest of the digestive organs, 
varies very much in size, and internal arrangement. 
In some birds it is extremely small; in certain cases, 
as in the Kingfisher, it is actually wanting ; whereas, 
in the Ostrich it considerably exceeds even the 
real stomach, being capable of holding several 
pints of water. It is in this cavity that the grand 
business or process of digestion is carried on, it being 
abundantly supplied with a number of glands or 
vessels, secreting that very curious liquid, called the 
gastric juice, which acts most powerfully on every 
variety of food. They are called the solvent glands 
on this account; and, as birds generally require a 
more rapid digestion, they are larger, and more dis- 
tinct from the other organs of digestion, than in other 
animals. 
There may also be another reason why this liquid 
may be more essentially necessary for birds, which 
