GREAT BUSTARD. 3 
And, again, in the year 1530, amongst the list of 
eratuities— 
Itm in reward the xxvth day of July to Baxter’s svnt of Stan- 
newgh [Stanhoe] for bryngyng of ij yong busterds, ij 
Nearly a century and a half later, Sir Thomas 
Browne* (who died in 1682), describes the bustard as 
* The only other reference to this species to be found in the 
writings of this distinguished naturalist is contained in the 
following postcript to a letter written by Sir Thomas, in 1681, 
to his son Edward, as published in Wilkin’s edition of his works 
(vol. i, p. 311) :—* Yesterday I had a cock bustard sent mee from 
beyond Thetford. I neuer did see such a vast thick neck: the 
crop was pulled out, butt as a turkey hath an odde large substance 
without, so had this within the inside of the skinne, and the strongest 
and largest neck bone of any bird in England. This I tell you, 
that if you meet with one you may further obserue it.” From this 
passage, it would seem that this wonderful observer of nature, as 
much in advance of his time in this, as in other scientific 
investigations, had arrived very nearly at the discovery of the 
“ular pouch” in this species (figured by Edwards, Bewick, and 
others), which has caused so much controversy amongst the 
most eminent ornithologists, and the existence of which, though 
now fully established, has been so often and so stoutly denicd. 
Space does not permit me to do much more than direct the 
attention of my readers to other works in which this interesting 
subject has been fully discussed. Suffice it, then, to say that the 
discovery made by Dr. James Douglas in the early part of the 
last century, of a large sac or pouch capable of much distention, 
and situated within the skin of the neck of the male bustard, 
but which the subsequent investigations of Professor Owen, 
Mr. Yarrell, Mr. Bartlett, Dr. Giinther, and others failed to estab- 
lish, has been fully confirmed beyond the possibility of doubt, by 
Dr. W. H. Cullen, of Kustendjie, Bulgaria (see “ Ibis,’ 1865, 
p- 143), from the examination of two fine adult males, killed in that 
country, both of which exhibited an opening under the tongue, 
leading directly into a pouch, which extended as far downwards as 
the furcular bone—“ a separate and distinct though delicate bladder,. 
very much resembling in appearance the air bladder in fishes.” 
One of these specimens now in the Museum of the Royal College 
B 2 
