Notes on the digestive system of hydrocorax
Holton C. Curl
Surgeon, United States Navy
Becuase of their peculiar apperance and strange habits, the hornbills have always been of popular and scienific interest, and a very large number of articles have been written about them.
Their method of nesting, mode of flight, and gross anatomy have been abundantly decribed, while some fairly good accounts of their habits have been given.
In order to try to learn something regarding the periodical casting-off of the lining of the stomach, as described first by Bartlett, I have recently made a seris of histological sections of the various parts of the gastro-intestinal tract of Hydrocorax hydrocorax linneaeus), and find facts of sufficient interest to record.
The best results are obtaned by taking small portions of tissue from a recently collected bird and placing them in a 10 per cent aquous formalin solution for eighten hours; from this, the tissue is transferred to 70 per cent alcohol, where it is kept until ready to use. . . . . read more
