188 
“AS PIGEONS FEED THEIR YOUNG. 
the old ones, and of course will no more be found in the 
crop of the young. 
“ It is a curious fact that the parent pigeon has at first 
the power to throw up this curd without any mixture of 
common food, although afterwards both are thrown up 
according to the proportion required for the young ones. 
I have called this substance curd, not as being literally so, 
but as resembling that more than anything I know; it 
may, however, have a greater resemblance to curd than 
we are perhaps aware of; for neither this secretion, nor 
curd from which the whey has been pressed, seem to 
contain any sugar, and do not run into the acetous 
fermentation. The property of coagulating is confined to 
the substance itself, as it produces no such effect when 
mixed with milk. This secretion in the pigeon, like all 
other animal substances, becomes putrid by standing, 
though not so readily as either blood or meat, it resisting 
putrefaction for a considerable time; neither will curd 
much pressed become so putrid as soon as either blood or 
meat.” 
Selby says,* “ The young remain in the nest till they 
are able to fly, and are fed by the parent birds, who 
disgorge into their mouths the food that has undergone 
a maceration, or semi-digestive process, in that part of the 
oesophagus usually called the crop or craw.” 
Colonel Montagu appears to be one of the few original 
* “ Illustrations of British Ornithology.” 
