THE JABIRU. 351 



depth. The conclusion therefore was, that by filling 

 this pouch with air it was enabled to support itself*. 

 That its further use may be to supply it with air in its 

 soaring flights, there are also good grounds for suppos- 

 ing. When the dense vapours of the rainy months 

 are dispersed and the sun has again buist forth with 

 undiminished fervour on the Indian plains, the Hurgilas 

 are observed to avoid the sultry heat of the lower 

 regions, by taking refuge in the higher, rising gradu- 

 ally till they appear mere specks in the firmament, or 

 entirely lost to the sight. In the hot months when 

 not a cloud obscures the vault of the heavens, hundreds 

 of these gigantic birds may be seen performing their 

 graceful evolutions, and wheeling majestically at a vast 

 height, enabled to remain in so thin an atmosphere, 

 most probably, by the supply of air collected in this bag. 



In its appetite the Hurgila is as great a glutton as 

 our Heron. Nothing comes amiss to its all-digesting 

 stomach. A leg of mutton, and a litter of live kittens 

 swallowed whole, proved equally acceptable with the 

 additional sauce of earth, bones, and hair, picked up 

 between times. 



The fourth genus, Jabiru, very much resembles the 

 Storks, and appears to have similar habits, the chief 

 distinction consisting in the form of the bill, which is 

 rather fuller, and slightly curved upwards at the end. 

 The skin of the neck is wrinkled and so flaccid that it 

 hangs down like the dewlap of a cow, and probably may 

 be of the same use as the pouch of the Hurgila above 

 mentioned. It is indeed from considering this dewlap 



Beak of the Jatnru- 



* It appears to be analogous to the pouch of the Emu, and applicable 

 in part to similar purposes. See p. 323. 



