Among this farrago also were to be seen maggots, and
many seeds, which belonged either to gooseberries, currants,
cranberries, or some such fruit; so that these birds apparently
subsist on insects and fruits: nor was there the least appearance of
bones, feathers, or fur to support the idle notion of their being birds
of prey.
The sternum in this bird seemed to us to be remarkably short,
between which and the anus lay the crop, or craw, and immediately
behind that the bowels against the backbone.
It must be allowed, as this anatomist observes, that the crop placed
just upon the bowels must, especially when full, be in a very
uneasy situation during the business of incubation; yet the test will
be to examine whether birds that are actually known to sit for
certain are not formed in a similar manner. This inquiry I proposed
to myself to make with a fern-owl, or goat-sucker, as soon as
opportunity offered: because, if their information proves the same,
the reason for incapacity in the cuckoo will be allowed to have
been taken up somewhat hastily.
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