Soe NATURAL SCIENCE [November 
the Bird Gallery of the British Museum (Natural History). There is 
no need to describe in detail its form, capacity, and so forth ; par- 
ticulars of this kind will have been gathered already from the 
preceding pages. I might, however, remark that the sublingual 
aperture in my specimen was not | -shaped but circular showing a 
hole large enough to admit the finger. Possibly this was due to 
relaxation of the muscles. After removal of the head and_ neck, 
the pouch was filled with spirit till it overflowed, the whole was 
then plunged into 70 per cent. spirit and left for some days. It 
was then taken out, and the skin from one side removed (fig. 4). 
Underlying was a mass of fatty tissue more or less completely 
investing the pouch. Along the anterior aspect of the neck, from 
the throat downwards, this is engorged with blood. The pouch was 
loosely attached to this investiture by delicate strands of fibrous 
tissue. The constriction in this pouch probably corresponds with 
that described by Naumann, and occurs at the lower part of the 
neck where it bends between the furcula, between the arms of which 
the expanded terminal portion is received. 
In conclusion I would point out :—(1) That the characteristic 
‘ show-off’ of the adult male Otis tarda ever takes place without 
the aid of a gular pouch, is exceedingly improbable. But that this 
pouch is present throughout the year is another question, and is a 
point which has yet to be settled. It was not found in the specimen 
from which Wolf’s beautiful drawing was taken, nor in numerous 
other cases in which it was carefully searched for. In the specimen 
lately dissected by myself, it was, as is shown in the illustration 
(fig. 5), very large. But this bird died in May, in the middle of 
its period of functional activity ; (2) There is no evidence to show 
that it is ever present in the female; (3) The belief that this sac 
is ever used as a receptable for water must now be regarded as 
utterly exploded; (4) It is not homologous with the ‘air-sacks’ 
proper, belonging neither to the pulmonary nor to the naso-pharyn- 
geal system. Bizvura lobata seems to be the only other bird 
besides the Bustards possessing a precisely similar structure. 
W. .P. PYCRABT: 
BritisH Musrtum (NAtTuRAL History), 
S. KEnsINGToN, LoNDON. 
: REFERENCES. 
1. Albin.—Nat. Hist. Birds, iii. p. 36. 1740. 
2. Bloch.—Schrift. der Berlinsch. Geselisch., iii. pp. 376-7, tab. 8. 1782, 
3. Cullen, W. H.—‘‘ On the Gular Pouch of the Male Bustard (Otis tarda, Linn.).” 
Proc. Zool. Soc., vol. i., ser. 2, p. 148. 18652 
4. Degland.—Orn, Eur., ii. p. 73. 1849. 
. Edwards.—Nat. Hist. Birds, ii. tab. 73. 1747, 
6. Flower, W. H.—‘‘On the Gular Pouch of the Great Bustard.”” Proc. Zool. Soc., p. 
747. 1865. 
or 
