320 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 
led Garrod “to doubt the correctness of Dr Murie’s inference, that 
because the neck of Hupodotis australis becomes distended much 
during the sexual season, therefore there isa gular pouch.” The next 
year this bird died and was dissected by Garrod. As a result, “ there 
was no gular pouch. There was no sublingual orifice. ... How 
unsafe therefore is it to infer that because the neck distends and 
depends during the ‘ show-off, there must be a sublingual pouch. 
It is quite possible that two effects, very similar in appearance, in 
closely allied birds, may be the result of different mechanisms.” <A 
careful investigation showed that the cause of the inflation of the 
Fic. 4.—The oesophagus and trachea of the specimen Hupodotis australis here described. 
The oesophagus is much dilated, and, like that of the Pouter Pigeon, can be distended 
with air by the living bird. No trace of a pouch or crop is to be seen (after Garrod), 
neck in this case was due to a highly extensible oesophagus. “ Be- 
fore dissection, by filling its cavity with air, the lower portion of 
the dilated oesophagus protruded downwards considerably in front of 
the symphysis furculae, and formed the depending portion of the sac 
which was so conspicuous in the living animal.” The two woodcuts 
(figs. 3 and 4) kindly lent by Mr Sclater for the present paper, are 
taken from Garrod’s original paper. 
Fig, 5 represents a dissection which the writer has just made of 
the gular pouch of an adult male till recently living in the Gardens 
of the Zoological Society ; and which will shortly be exhibited in 
