Crop (anatomy)

The crop (also the croup, the craw, the ingluvies, and the sublingual pouch) is a thin-walled, expanded portion of the alimentary tract, which is used for the storage of food before digestion.

[6] In a bird's digestive system, the crop is an expanded, muscular pouch near the gullet or throat.

In adult doves and pigeons, it can produce crop milk to feed newly hatched birds.

[7] Scavenging birds, such as vultures, will gorge themselves when prey is abundant, causing their crop to bulge.

[11] In the Sherlock Holmes story "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" (1892), a valuable gem is hidden inside a bird's crop.

Two white-bellied parrots with bulging crops after feeding.
As a graylag goose eats grass, the full crop is clearly visible.
One greater flamingo-chick in Zoo Basel is fed on crop milk.
The crop (serial 4) of a pigeon ( Columba livia ) is prominently seen at the beginning of the alimentary canal.