348 THE GIGANTIC CRANE. 



argila), a native of the East Indies, and was the first of 

 birds to meet the eye of Bishop Heber, on his landing 

 in India. " In the morning, as the day broke," says he, 

 we were much struck by the singular spectacle before 

 us. Besides the usual apparatus of a place of arms, the 

 walks, roofs, and ramparts of the fort swarmed with 

 gigantic birds, the Hurgila, larger than the largest 

 Turkey, and twice as tall as the Heron, which, in some 

 respects they much resemble, except that they have a 

 large blue and red pouch under the lower bill, in which, 

 we were told, they keep such food as they cannot eat at 

 the moment. These birds share with the jackalls, who 

 enter the fort through the drains, the post of scavenger ; 

 but unlike them, instead of shunning mankind day and 

 night, they lounge about with perfect fearlessness all 

 day long, and almost jostled us from our paths." The 

 bishop's information, however, respecting this pouch, is 

 not correct ; it having been ascertained, that this bag is 

 not at all connected with the gullet, and has therefore 

 no reference to food, but is merely an air-vessel on a 

 very large scale, employed as occasion requires, either 

 in sustaining the bird in its lofty soaring flights, or assist- 

 ing it in searching for food in its original dwelling-places 

 amongst marshes and lakes. Its natural food in these 

 situations consisting of reptiles and amphibia, it must 

 often find it necessary to go beyond the depth of even 

 its long legs, while from the structure of its limbs it 

 cannot swim, and it is evident that its ponderous awk- 

 ward beak would prove an additional incumbrance. To 

 overcome these difficulties the bag, when filled with air, 

 may be of great service, by counteracting the weight of 

 this enormous bill, and thus enabling it to procure food 

 in deep water. And this view of the subject seems to 

 be confirmed by the testimony of an experienced wit- 

 ness, by whom a Hurgila was seen, wading in a large 

 piece of water, and proceeding to a distance from the 

 shore, which was afterwards found to be beyond its 



