Madeira, the stomach of a Kestrel was found to contain "nothing but seven Snail shells (Helix pisana), which had been swallowed whole."[1] As Darwin enquires, "Can a more striking instance of adaptation be given than that of a Woodpecker for climbing trees and seizing insects in the chinks of the bark? Yet in North America there are Woodpeckers which feed largely on fruit, and others with elongated wings which chase insects on the wing."[2] The Great Titmouse (Parus major), by its larger size and stronger bill, is adapted to feed on larger insects, and is even said sometimes to kill small and weak birds. The smaller and weaker Coal Titmouse (Parus ater) has adopted a more vegetarian diet, eating seeds as well as insects, and feeding on the ground as well as among trees.[3] It has been stated that "on Cocos Islands, when the Boobies are not nesting and have consequently left, the Frigate birds (Tachypetes aquila) are unable to procure their ordinary food, which consists of fish taken from the Boobies, and that they then swallow seeds of Guilandina and beans, which they find floating in the sea, and on flying to the land vomit them up again, apparently merely using them to fill up temporarily the empty crops."[4] Mr. Watson, in describing the effects of illegitimate fishing in our own country, writes, "In one outlying village during last close season poached Salmon was so common that the cottagers fed their poultry upon it right through the winter."[5] "After Hunter had fed a Sea Gull on grain for a year, he found that the inner coat of its stomach had grown hard, and its muscles had thickened, thus forming a true gizzard, although the Sea Gull normally has a soft stomach, as it lives upon the soft flesh of fishes."[6]
Dr. Vosseler, in making some experiments on young Salamanders (Salamandra maculata), inadvertently left some in an aquarium for over a year unfed. "Investigations showed that these creatures, which usually fed on worms, all kinds of larvæ, &c, had nourished themselves with Algæ together
- ↑ Hon. Cecil Baring and W.R. Ogilvie Grant ('Zoologist,' 3rd ser. vol. xix. p. 403).
- ↑ 'Origin of Species,' 6th edit. p. 141.
- ↑ A.R. Wallace, 'Darwinism,' p. 108.
- ↑ G. Clunies Ross, 'Natural Science,' vol. viii. p. 190.
- ↑ 'Sketches of British Sporting Fishes,' p. 127.
- ↑ Cf. Brooks, 'The Foundations of Zoology,' p. 57.
