FLIGHT. 237 



also clear that there is no direct communication be- 

 tween the two sides */' 



In the pelican, a similar contrivance has been de- 

 scribed by several French naturalists, and M. Lory, 

 in particular, has demonstrated a communication from 

 the atmosphere to the pipes of the quill-feathers ; as 

 Colonel Montagu also did in the gannet above-men- 

 tioned. According to M. Montbeillard, the air in the 

 pelican passes from the breast into the arm-pits, or 

 rather wing-pits, from which it insinuates itself into 

 numerous vesicles, covering the muscles, and indeed 

 the whole body immediately under the skin. These 

 vesicles are so much inflated, that, upon pressing the 

 skin with the fingers, the air is observed to move 

 about as if enclosed in a bladder. Upon the expira- 

 tion of the air in breathing, the air compressed in the 

 breast passes into the wing-pits, and thence spreads 

 to the subcutaneous vesicles. By blowing into the 

 windpipe, the course of the air may even be made 

 sensible to the eye ; and hence it may be well con- 

 ceived how the pelican can enlarge its bulk without 

 increasing its absolute weight. 



" In a journey," says M. Tachard, " which we 

 made to the load-stone mine, M. de la Marre wounded 

 one of these large birds which our people call Grand 

 Gosier, and the Siamese Noktho .... Its spread 

 wings measured seven feet and a half. On dissection 

 we found, under the fleshy panicles, very delicate 

 membranes, which enveloped the whole body, which, 

 folding differently, formed many considerable pouches, 

 particularly between the thighs and the belly ; between 

 the wings and the ribs, and under the craw, some 

 were so wide as to admit the two fingers ; these great 

 pouches divided into many little ducts, which, by 

 perpetual subdivision, ran into an endless multitude 

 of ramifications, which were perceptible only by the 

 * Ornith. Diet. p. 195, 2d edit. 



