Great Bustard. 347 



taxidermist of Cambridge, and, thanks to his diligence and care, 

 now stands in my collection as noble a specimen as may be seen 

 of the Portuguese ORNIS. With the assistance of Dr. Suche r 

 who had been a fellow-labourer with Vigors, and who was an 

 experienced collector and preserver of some of the larger mam- 

 mals and reptiles in South America, and whose anatomical skill 

 was of the greatest service to me, I spent several hours in 

 examining the soft, wattle-like protuberance which hung below 

 the chin and throat, and gave the whole neck a thick, puffy 

 appearance. The result was that I entertain no doubt whatever, 

 and (what is of far more value) Dr. Suche was equally positive, 

 that this male Bustard possessed a pouch of considerable capacity, 

 or rather (as it seemed to me) a number of membrane-divided 

 sacs, which appeared capable of extending to any dimensions, 

 and the larger of which would apparently contain several quarts. 

 I am quite aware that my own attempts at dissection were very 

 feeble, and I should not venture to speak thus positively on so- 

 disputed a point but for the able assistance in the work, and the 

 certain conclusions deduced therefrom, by Dr. Suche. To this I 

 may add, that on mentioning our work and our unanimous 

 conclusions to Professor Barbosa du Bocage, the well-known 

 ornithologist and indefatigable director of the museum at Lisbon, 

 to whose courtesy I was indebted for much information and assist- 

 ance, he not only entirely concurred with us, but declared that it 

 was impossible for anyone to examine the throat and neck of an 

 adult male Otis tar da without being convinced by his own 

 senses that such a pouch did exist. Even previously to removing 

 the skin of my bird, the position and size of the large goitre-like 

 excrescence standing out from the neck, though in great measure 

 concealed by feathers, could be plainly discerned ; and, when 

 handled, at once betrayed the soft, yielding nature of its sub- 

 stance.* Perhaps it may account for the apparently contradic- 

 tory opinions expressed above, if I state that the male Bustard 



For an exhaustive treatise ' On the supposed Gular Pouch of the Male 

 Bustard,' by Professor Newton, see Ills, for 1862, pp. 107-127. See also 

 Ibis for 18G5, pp. 143-116. 



