322 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 



the Bird Gallery of the British Museum (Natural History). There is 

 no need to describe in detail its form, capacity, and so forth ; par- 

 ticulars of this kind will have been gathered already from the 

 preceding pages. I might, however, remark that the sublingual 

 aperture in my specimen was not j_-shaped but circular showing a 

 hole large enough to admit the finger. Possibly this was due to 

 relaxation of the muscles. After removal of the head and neck, 

 the pouch was filled with spirit till it overflowed, the whole was 

 then plunged into 70 per cent, spirit and left for some days. It 

 was then taken out, and the skin from one side removed (fig. 5). 

 Underlying was a mass of fatty tissue more or less completely 

 investing the pouch. Along the anterior aspect of the neck, from 

 the throat downwards, this is engorged with blood. The pouch was 

 loosely attached to this investiture by delicate strands of fibrous 

 tissue. The constriction in this pouch probably corresponds with 

 that described by Naumann, and occurs at the lower part of the 

 neck where it bends between the furcula, between the arms of which 

 the expanded terminal portion is received. 



In conclusion I would point out : — (1) That the characteristic 

 4 show-off' of the adult male Otis tarda ever takes place without 

 the aid of a gular pouch, is exceedingly improbable. But that this 

 pouch is present throughout the year is another question, and is a 

 point which has yet to be settled. It was not found in the specimen 

 from which Wolf's beautiful drawing was taken, nor in numerous 

 other cases in which it was carefully searched for. In the specimen 

 lately dissected by myself, it was, as is shown in the illustration 

 (fig. 5), very large. But this bird died in May, in the middle of 

 its period of functional activity ; (2) There is no evidence to show 

 that it is ever present in the female ; (3) The belief that this sac 

 is ever used as a receptable for water must now be regarded as 

 utterly exploded; (4) It is not homologous with the 'air-sacks' 

 proper, belonging neither to the pulmonary nor to the naso-pharyn- 

 geal system. Biziura lobata seems to be the only other bird 

 besides the Bustards possessing a precisely similar structure. 



W. P. Pyceaft. 



British Museum (Natural History), 

 S. Kensington, London. 



REFERENCES. 



1. Albin.— Nat. Hist. Birds, iii. p. 36. 1740. 



2. Bloch. — Schrift. dcr Bcrlinsch. Gesellsch., iii. pp. 376-7, tab. 8. 1782, 



3. CuUen, W. H.—" On the Gular Poucli of the Male Bustard {Otis tarda, Linn.)." 



Proc. Zool. Soc., vol. i., ser. 2, p. 143. 1865. 



4. Degland.— Orn. Eur., ii. p. 73. 1849. 



5. Edwards. — Nat. Hist. Birds, ii. tab. 73. 1747. 



6. Flower, W. H.— "On the Gular Pouch of the Great Bustard." Proc. Zool. Soc, p. 



747. 1865. 



