THE GIGANTIC CRANE. 141 



it having been ascertained, that this bag is not at 

 all connected 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, w r hen 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 w r as afterwards 

 found to be beyond its depth. The conclusion, 

 therefore, was, that by filling this pouch with air, it 

 was enabled to support itself*. That its further use 

 may be to supply it with air in its soaring flights, 

 there are also good grounds for supposing. When 

 tho 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 ob- 

 served to avoid the sultry heat of the lower regions, 

 by taking refuge in the higher, rising gradually 



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

 applicable in part to similar purpose?. See p. 117. 



