POULTRY TRIBE. 277 



The male is said to possess a capacious pouch, 

 situate along the fore-part of the neck, and capable 

 of holding several pints of water. Naturalists 

 have been much puzzled to make out the use of 

 this receptacle, and recently attention has been 

 afresh directed to the subject. In " The Zoologist, 

 for 1853 " (p. 4015), there is a paper, by Mr. 

 Yarrell, on the habits and structure of this bird, 

 containing many interesting particulars relating 

 to it, and concluding with an account of an anatom- 

 ical examination of the neck ; but no pouch could be 

 found, and Professor Owen, and Mr. Yarrell seem 

 disposed to doubt the accuracy of former writers on 

 this point, the latter acknowledging his opinion 

 to be changed since the publication of his 

 " British Birds." It should seem that the accounts 

 formerly given of this bird were very incorrect, 

 and now that it is become so rare, it is no easy 

 matter to correct mistakes, and to supply neces- 

 sary information. Well may we deplore the 

 disappearance of the fine cock of the woods from 

 the forests of Scotland, and almost equally so the 

 extirpation of the great bustard from the plains of 

 England. 



The bustard is found in many parts of France 

 and Italy, and in Spain and Portugal. It is also a 

 native of Eussia and the plains of Tartary. It is 

 naturally a very wild bird, and in Germany, 



