STRUCTURE OF THE GREAT BUSTARD. 159 



This specimen is in the possession of Dr. Plomley, who recorded the circumstance in the 

 1 Zoologist ' for the year 1850, at page 2700. 



The third was shot on the 31st December, 1851, in Devonshire. This specimen was 

 preserved by Mr. Drax, and is now in the possession of J. G. Newton, Esq., of Millaton 

 Bridestow, as recorded in the • Naturalist ' for 1852, page 33. 



I had long wished to have an opportunity of examining the body of a male Bustard to 

 inspect the gular pouch described by Daines Barrington, in his ' Miscellanies,' 1781, and by 

 Edwards in his ' Gleanings in Natural History,' 1811, and from thence copied by Bewick 

 and myself, but it was not till lately that an opportunity offered. About four years ago 

 the Zoological Society obtained by purchase six or seven young Bustards from Germany. 

 One of these birds, a male, died within a year : the body was examined by Mr. Mitchell 

 and myself, but no gular pouch was found. This we then attributed to the youth of the 

 bird. During the past summer of 1852 one of the males of these birds was frequently 

 observed courting a female. His appearance at such a time was singular : the wings are 

 lowered to the ground, and while covering the sides, the most anterior parts of both wings 

 are brought round in front, so that the bird appears to be surrounded by a circle of his 

 largest wing-feathers : the head and neck are passed backward, and so depressed that the 

 occipital portion of the head touches his back, and in this attitude he struts round his 

 favourite. No inflation of the neck was observed. The females are timid and rather shy. 

 Constant exposure to numerous visitors at the Gardens, with the want of sufficient space 

 for seclusion, probably interfered, as no eggs were produced. 



In the month of December last this male bustard, believed to be four years old, unfor- 

 tunately died, and Mr. Mitchell very kindly allowed me to examine this adult bird. 



To give an indication of what I expected to find, I may first quote the words in Edwards's 

 ' Gleanings ' : — 



" A remarkable anatomical peculiarity in the male of the Great Bustard, first dis- 

 covered by Dr. James Douglas of the College of Physicians in London. 



" It is a pouch or bag to hold fresh water, which supplies the bird in dry places when 

 distant from waters : the entrance into it is between the under side of the tongue and the 

 lower mandible of the bill. I poured into this bag, before the head was taken off, full 

 seven wine pints, before it ran over. This bag is wanting in the hen." 



My examination of the mature male Bustard sent to me from the Zoological Society's 

 Gardens was confined to the neck only. I very carefully divided the skin, in a straight 

 line from the union of the two branches of the lower mandible to the angle of the furcular 

 bone or merrythought. On separating the edge of this skin on each side to the right and 

 left, a thin delicate transparent membrane was seen covering, and firmly attached to, the 

 anterior surface of the trachea or windpipe, which lies close to the inner surface of the 

 common skin. Separating the skin still wider, there was on each side of the trachea an 

 elongated narrow column of membrane investing and attached to the blood-vessels and 

 ordinary glands of the neck, and extended downwards was attached to the lateral branch 

 of the furcula on its own side. The oesophagus inclines to the right side of the neck in 

 its passage downward. There was no opening under the tongue, and I failed in various 

 attempts to distend any part of the membranes below, either by fluid or by air. 



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