Digestion a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion. In some birds it is an expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat. In adult doves and pigeons, the crop can produce crop milk to feed newly hatched birds. Certain insects may have a crop or enlarged esophagus. Herbivores have evolved cecums (or an abomasum in the case of ruminants). Ruminants have a fore-stomach with four chambers. These are the rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum. In the first two chambers, the rumen and the reticulum, the food is mixed with saliva and
The Language of the Birds The Language of the Birds The Language of the Birds is a Russian fairy tale. A merchant's son, Ivan, wanted to learn the language of the birds. One day while hunting, he saw four chicks about to be swamped by a storm, and sheltered them with his kaftan. When the mother bird returned, she, in gratitude, taught him the language of the birds. He sat with his parents one night and was distressed by the nightingale's song. His father insisted on hearing what it said, and he told them that it had said he would be a king's son rather