of the Male Bustard. 1 33 



call attention to the great diversity in size and shape of the so- 

 called pouchy as given by different observers. The fluid contained 

 therein would be also fully accounted for, if my hypothesis be 

 correct/^ 



Dr. Giinther besides has favoured me with his observations 

 on the dissection of one of these specimens, at which he, as 

 Mr. Bartlett states, was present. Dr. Giinther says : — " It was 

 an adult male, as we saw by the plumage and by the testicles. 

 There was no trace of a foramen below the tongue, or of any 

 peculiar sac communicating with the cavity of the mouth. The 

 oesophagus dilated into a large crop. The cellular tissue between 

 the oesophagus and the trachea, and in the region above the 

 furcula, did not show any development greatly differing from 

 what we find in other birds.'" Dr. Giinther, I believe, does not 

 entirely assent to the probability of Mr. Bartlett's ingenious 

 suggestion being the true explanation of the case, but says that 

 " it is possible that an accessory organ, peculiar to the male 

 sex, like this sac, may be found in some males, probably in the 

 larger portion, and in others not. From this single example 

 which I have seen, I should for the present draw the conclusion 

 only that the sac is not constant in all specimens. ^^ 



It has long been known in this country that at the death of 

 John Hunter, in 1793, his manuscripts passed into the hands of 

 Sir Everard Home, by whom they were burnt, after he had 

 adopted from them many ideas, which he announced as his own, 

 but fortunately not before copies of a considerable number of 

 the papers had been made by Mr. Clift. At the death of this 

 gentleman these copies came into the possession of Professor 

 Owen, who in the course of last year published them. In this 

 work (Essays and Observations on Natural History, ii. pp. 300, 

 301) occurs the following passage : — 



" The cock-bustard has a very thick neck and long hairy 

 feathers under his throat. On the fore part of his neck, reaching 

 lower down than the middle, is a large bag, as large as the thick 

 part of one's arm : it terminates in a blind pouch below, but has 

 an opening into it at the upper end from the mouth. This 

 aperture will admit three or four fingers ; it is under the tongue, 

 and the frsenum linguae seems to enter it ; and it seems to have 



