BIRDS 153 



An interesting paper on the throat-pouch of the Bustard 

 appeared in Natural Science, November 1898, by Mr. W. 

 Pycraft of the Natural History Museum, London. He gives 

 a full account of the literature of the subject, pointing out 

 that in certain male specimens dissected by experienced 

 anatomists the pouch was not found. The specimen 

 dissected by himself had the pouch fully developed. This 

 specimen died in May, at the height of sexual activity. It 

 is very probable that the absence of the pouch in other 

 specimens was due to the fact that the pouch disappears 

 almost, or quite completely, after the breeding season. If 

 this be the case it is, as in many other cases, a very strong 

 argument in favour of the view which attributes the origin 

 of the pouch directly to the pressure of the air in the mouth 

 when the bird shows off. 



It is a curious fact that in Otis australis, which shows off 

 in much the same way as the Great Bustard, A. H. Garrod 

 found there was no gular pouch at all. When this bird 

 courts the female the neck swells, and the feathers of the 

 lower part bulge out and descend gradually downwards in 

 the form of a bag, often nearly reaching to the ground. 

 Dr. Murie having found the sub-lingual pouch in Otis kori, 

 and witnessed the " show " of the species mentioned above, 

 concluded that the inflation in the latter was due to the 

 same cause. A. H. Garrod, however, found that in 0. australis 

 the distension was produced by the inflation of the gullet 

 with air, as in the Pouter pigeon. 



The wings in the family are strong and short, and while 

 ill -adapted for sustained flight are much used in fighting. 

 In accordance with this fact they are often provide'd with 

 spurs, which, when single, is the nail or claw of the thumb or 

 first digit. Palamedea cornuta has two spurs on each wing 

 and an erect horny filament on the head, but the spurs are 

 stated by Darwin to be no larger in the male than in the 



