File:The bird, its form and function (1906) (14755368995).jpg

Identifier: birditsformfunct00beebuoft (find matches)
Title: The bird, its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds -- Anatomy Birds -- Physiology
Publisher: New York : Holt
Contributing Library: Gerstein - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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other ways makingready the food, that the important changes which takeplace in the stomach may begin at once. In birds, how-ever, the sahva has but little chemical effect on the food,its principal use being to moisten the substances beforethey are swallowed. It is not often that Nature, when she has ))roduced
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Fig. 90—Nest of Chimney Swift; twigs glued together with sahva. an organ or special tissue by the elaborate synthesis ofevolution, confines its use to any one function. If birdswere provided with salivary glands intended onl) for thepurpose mentioned above, they soon found other uses forthem. In a woodpecker we will find ver^- large salivaryglands on each side of the mouth. These secrete a stickyliquid which covers the long, many-barbed tongue and isan efficient aid in picking out insects from their holes inthe bark and wood of trees. Organs of Nutrition i 19 Man3^ birds carry in ilicir beaks the grasses andtwigs with which they construct their nests, and if a stickyfluid helped them to get their food, wliy would it notalso soften the twigs and make them easy to bend? Notonly this, but certain birds, such as our Chimney Swifts,are provided with saliva in such quantities, and of suchtenacious consistency, that the entire nest—a mosaic of

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