236 FACULTIES OF BIRDS. 



gannet (Sula alba, MEYER), and are so interesting 

 that we shall give them in his own words. 



" A pipe," he says, " was first introduced into the 

 windpipe (tracked), and when air was propelled 

 through it, the whole internal cavity of the body was 

 inflated, but no air passed into the external cells 

 between the skin and the body ; an incision was then 

 made in the lower part of the abdomen into the body, 

 very near the vent, it readily found its way through 

 the larynx, producing a noise similar to the sound 

 emitted by the living bird. A small opening was 

 then made in the skin on the left side, about midway 

 between the wing and the thigh, and a pipe intro 

 duced, having first stopped those directly communi- 

 cating with the internal parts. It was now obvious 

 that when air was forced through this orifice, the 

 skin on that side, as far as the middle line of the 

 body, was greatly inflated, extending into the lower 

 part of the neck, along the larger joints of the wing, 

 down the thigh, and also into the cavity of the body ; 

 but the right side was not in the least affected. The 

 pipe at the trachea being now removed, the air pro- 

 duced a similar effect upon the larynx, as before 

 mentioned, but not so loud. Still suspecting that 

 there was a communication between the sides, by 

 means of some valvular apparatus, the right side was 

 subjected to the same experiment ; the result, how- 

 ever, negatived our expectation, the effect produced 

 being similar in every respect. 



"From a repetition of these experiments upon 

 several subjects, it became evident that there was a. 

 communication between the lungs and the cellular 

 membrane that covers the greater part of the body, 

 as well as with the whole cavity of the body, but that, 

 by reason of some valvular contrivance, the skin could 

 not be artificially inflated through the lungs, although 

 air would readily pass in a contrary direction. It is 



