Grit in magen van Houtduiven Columa Palumbus

The gizzard of a freshly killed (by a Goshawk Accipiter gentilis) female Woodpigeon (c. 460 g, good condition) contained 85 grit particles but no food remains. Mean grit size was 3.11 mm (SD=1.25), and the summed particles weighed 2.4 g (gizzard + content: 24.5 g,48.2 x 33.9 mm). The gizzard of another female Woodpigeon, freshly killed in 1995, also contained 85 grit particles, weighing 1.6 g, with an average grit size of 3.0 mm (SD=0.82) (Fig. 1). These data fit the log-linear relationship between body mass and mean grit size, which is particularly evident in seed-eaters (Fig. 2).