18983] GULAR POUCH OF THE GREAT BUSTARD 315 
hinein gerathen zu sein schienen. Er scheint mir tiberhaupt mehr 
ein Luftals Wasserbehilter zu sein. Sein Zweck bleibt vor der 
Hand ein Rathsel, wie er dies schon lange war.” 
John I{unter apparently made a dissection of this pouch. He 
did not, however, subscribe to the prevalent opinion that it served 
as a receptacle for water, on the contrary he candidly expresses that 
he does not know what its use may be. He describes it as ‘‘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 fraenum linguae seems to enter it; 
and it seems to have a sphincter. What the use of this is I don’t 
know." 
None of the writers so far quoted seem to have connected this 
pouch with the phenomena of sexual display, probably because they 
had never witnessed the remarkable evolutions and contortions of 
this bird during its moments of ecstatic frenzy. 
The credit of this interpretation perhaps belongs to Schneider. 
It seems, however, that he had never examined this pouch for him- 
self, but relied on the accuracy of the observations of those more 
fortunate who had. Commenting upon Bloch’s statement, which 
evidently much puzzled him, that the pouch was found in both 
sexes, he says :—‘“ Si mas solus saceo gulari gaudet, potest tum in 
amore eum forte inflare, ut collum intumescat. Contra si femina 
eundem habet, quod vix credo, alium tum eidem usum excogitare 
debemus.” It is possible, however, that Schneider is indebted to 
the Emperor Friedrich the II. for the suggestion that the pouch may 
be occasionally and voluntarily inflated. Inasmuch as the latter, 
acquainted only with the external phenomena, drew attention to the 
““orossum collum’ possessed by both sexes of the Great Bustard, 
and especially the males ‘ tempore coitis.’” 
(Quite another rendering was given as an explanation of this 
curious inflation of the neck by Degland (4), who writes :—‘“Je 
dois 4 mon honorable confrére, le docteur Dorin, de Chalons-sur- 
Marne, la connaissance d’un fait assez curieux et que je ne dois pas 
omettre. <A l’époque des amours, il se développe dans le lieu méme 
ou sinserent les moustaches, une sorte de fanon, formé par une masse 
de tissu cellulaire graisseux, lache, dont le volume est considérable, 
puisqu’il atteint et dépasse le poids d’un kilogramme. Cette sorte de 
fanon, qui occupe la partie antérieure et latérale du cou, est formée 
de deux masses qui se réunissent sur la ligne médiane a partir de la 
naissance des barbes jusqu’au bas du collier. C’est au moyen de 
muscles fauciers assez développés que l’oiseau peut imprimer des 
mouvements 4 cette masse, et par conséquent relever ou abaisser les 
1 The spaced type is mine, 
