598.3 313 



591.156 



II 



The Gular Pouch of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda) 



T N reviewing the history of the gular pouch of the Great Bustard 

 -*- we have of necessity to trace the history of the explanation of 

 two very different phenomena, which at last resolve themselves into 

 complementary halves of a common whole. The first of these deals 

 with the fact now known to all ornithologists, that several different 

 species of Bustard have the power of inflating the neck to an enor- 

 mous degree, at intervals during that period when, as the poet has 

 it, " fancy, lightly turns to thoughts of love." It is one of the 

 many methods of 'showing off' to be found in such abundance 

 amongst birds. At least three different versions have been given to 

 explain how this inflation is brought about. The second, as already 

 hinted, is linked with that of the first. It concerns what is the 

 main theme of this paper, — the Gular Pouch. The very existence 

 of such a structure has been denied by some, by others it has been 

 held to be a receptacle for water, food, and air. Those who subscribed 

 to this latter view, for the most part connected it more or less 

 definitely, with the curious love displays just referred to, and knew 

 something of the habits of the living birds, which the others did not. 

 The aim of the present paper is to give a sketch of these various 

 conflicting interpretations and to draw attention to one or two minor 

 points around which some doubt still seems to hover. 



The earliest known indication of the possession of this faculty 

 of inflating the neck by the Great Bustard dates back as far as 1681. 

 This we owe to Sir Thomas Browne l : he remarks that " as a Turkey 

 hath an odde large substance without, so had this [Otis tardci\ 

 within the inside of the skinne." Here however we have nothing 

 more than a bare statement drawing attention to the fact that the 

 neck of this species of Bustard differed from that of birds generally 

 in this respect, and we are left to imagine that it is a constant 

 character possibly possessed by both sexes in common. Some half 

 century later a real contribution to our knowledge of the subject 

 was made, which was destined to become the subject of much 

 animated discussion. It concerns the gular pouch. This we owe 

 to Dr James Douglas, a British anatomist. The first mention of 

 this was made by Albin in 1740, for Douglas it seems did not 



1 The quotations from the earlier writers are taken for the most part from Pro- 

 fessor Newton's valuable article in the Tbis for 186"2. 



