!J642 The Zoologist — June, 1871. 



Berwick St. James, in Wilts, January 26, 1871, the property of Mr. Pinckney 

 (S. S. 2510), he noticed the pouch in the neck. There was, he informs me, 

 not the least sign of it until the bustard was skinned, and then it was quite 

 visible, but quite empty, and outside the neck, and seemed to take up no 

 extra room. In another letter he adds, " With regard to the pouch, the 

 nearest thing I can compare it to is the stomach of the heron when quite 

 empty, which is then very small to appearance, but is capable of being very 

 much extended, and so was the pouch of the bustard. It was lying close 

 to the windpipe, of a narrow and wrinkled appearance, but reached nearly 

 down to the breast, and might be very much extended. I do not think 

 I am veiy much over the mark when I say I think it may hold upwards of 

 three quarts." Those who wish to refer to the bustard-pouch controversy 

 will find, at p. 107 of the 'Ibis' for 1862, a complete history of it, except 

 that the writer has overlooked a passage in Graves's ' British Birds,' which 

 runs as follows ; — " In the specimen our figure was coloured from [an adult 

 male] the pouch was found capable of containing rather more than two 

 quarts of water." — J. H. Quniey, jun. 



The Flock of Bustards. — In the April number of the 'Zoologist' you 

 ask for information as to the occurrence of the great bustards in Cornwall. 

 I can only help you by saying that the Braunton bustards were seen again 

 soon after they left Braunton in the neighbourhood of Halsworthy, which is 

 in Devonshire, but getting very near to the border of Cornwall ; but others 

 must have joined them before they got there, as 1 am told they still kept 

 up the number (seven) that were seen at Braunton : as two of these had 

 certainly been killed, and one was supposed to be badly wounded, the flock 

 seen at Braunton must therefore have been larger than was supposed or 

 three more must have joined them. None were obtained at Halsworthy. — 

 Cecil Smith. 



American Bittern in Guernsey. — Seeing a notice of the occurrence in 

 Guernsey of the American bittern {Botaurus lentiginosus), I wrote to some 

 relatives living in the island to make inquiries, and the result was that the 

 bird was sent over to me, and is now in my collection : it is a very fine 

 specimen. The bird was shot in Guernsey on the 27th of October, 1870. 

 The occurrence of this bird so far from its usual habitat seems worthy of 

 notice. — Cecil Smith. 



American Bittern in Ireland. — The American bittern shot near Cahir, 

 as chronicled in the December number of the ' Zoologist' (S. S. 2408), has 

 lately come into my possession : it is one of the finest specimens I have 

 seen. Mr. Glenuon, who preserved it, has on many occasions had them 

 from several parts of Ireland. A good specimen from County Louth is in 

 the Irish collection of the Eoyal Dublin Society. Thompson, in his ' Birds 

 of Ireland,' mentions but one as shot in Ireland up to his time, and that 

 near Armagh, which bird is still preserved in Belfast. Being a sluggish 



