THE GIGANTIC CRANE. 325 



night, they lounge about with perfect fearlessness all day 

 long, and almost jostled us from our paths." The bishop's 

 information, however, respecting this pouch, is not correct ; 

 it having been ascertained, that this bag is not at all con- 

 nected with the gullet, and has therefore no reference to food, 

 but is merely an air-vessel on a very large scale, employed as 

 occasion requires, either in sustaining the bird in its lofty 

 soaring flights, or assisting it in searching for food in its 

 original dwelling-places amongst marshes and lakes. Its 

 natural food in these situations consisting of reptiles and 

 amphibia, it must often find it necessary to go beyond the 

 depth of even its long legs, while from the structure of its 

 limbs it cannot swim, and it is evident that its ponderous 

 awkward beak would prove an additional incumbrance. To 

 overcome these difficulties the bag, when filled with air, may 

 be of great service, by counteracting the weight of this 

 enormous bill, and thus enabling it to procure food in deep 

 water. And this view of the subject seems to be confirmed 

 by the testimony of an experienced witness, by whom a 

 Hurgila was seen, wading in a large piece of water, and 

 proceeding to a distance from the shore, which was after- 

 wards found to be beyond its depth. The conclusion there- 

 fore was, that by filling this pouch with air it was enabled 

 to support itself.* That its farther use may be to supply 

 it with air in its soaring flights, there are also good grounds 

 for supposing. When the dense vapours of the rainy 

 months are dispersed, and the sun has again burst 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 gradually 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 



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

 in part to similar purposes. See p. 303. 



