of the Male Bustard. 117 



" To give an indication of what I expected to find, I may 

 first quote the words in Edwards^s ' Gleanings ' : — [Here follows 

 the extract I have already given from that author, and which 

 therefore I need not repeat.] 



" 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 edge 

 of the furcular bone or merrythought. On separating the edge 

 of this skin on each side to the right and left, a thin delicate 

 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 mem- 

 branes below, either by fluid or by air. 



'^'I was disappointed, and began to doubt the accuracy of my 

 own investigation ; " and Mr. Yarrell then proceeds to say, that 

 it was only after turning to the accounts of Perrault and Cuvier, 

 and taking Professor Owen's opinion — all of which I have before 

 referred to — that he offered his statement to the Linnean Societv. 

 When I was in London the following summer, Mr. Yarrell was 

 good enough to show me the preparation he had made, and on 

 my own authority I can declare that in this specimen there was 

 no trace of a gular pouch. 



Mr. YarrelFs paper was read before the Linnean Society, 

 January 18, 1853, and was printed a few months afterwards, I 

 in the meantime having told him of the strong evidence in favour 

 of the contrary opinion which was to be gathered from German 

 authors. When, some two years later, he was preparing the third 

 edition of his ' British Birds,' I again wrote to him on the sub- 

 ject, enclosing him translations of the passages from Naumann's 

 work which I have already quoted; for I was well aware that he 



