380 



12 



flesh, owing to this smell. On the other hand, many raptorial animals, as for instance those of 

 the Weasel tribe, are particularly fond of it, and will follow the Bustard for some distance. 



Mr. Sabanaeff informs me that the Russian peasants soak the flesh of the Bustard for some 

 time in vinegar or " kvass " (the beer of the country) before cooking it, and that by so doing it is 

 rendered tolerably palatable. This gentleman likewise confirms the statement I give above as 

 to the Bustard being caught when a frost has followed rain and its wings are frozen. 



The eggs of the Great Bustard are light brownish olive or dull olive-green, smudged and 

 blotched with more or less distinctly defined dark brown blotches and irregular spots ; in size, 

 ten in my collection measure from 3^ by 2^% to 3^§ by 2^- inches. The usual number deposited 

 appears to be two, sometimes three. 



Mr. Garrod, the Prosector of the Zoological Society, has kindly looked over the various 

 articles on the gular pouch of the Bustard, and writes to me on the subject as follows : — " The 

 different points connected with the question as to the existence or non-existence of a gular pouch 

 in Otis tarda have excited a degree of attention and a diversity of opinion which can only be 

 accounted for by the difficulty that there is in this country of obtaining a sufficient number of 

 specimens for examination. Several authorities have recorded their very contradictory results ; 

 and Professor Newton's excellent and exhaustive summary (Ibis, 1862, p. 107) left the question 

 as undecided as ever. Dr. W. H. Cullen, of Kustendjie, in Bulgaria, was led from Professor 

 Newton's remarks to reexamine the point ; and in the two specimens of the bird which he dis- 

 sected, the pouch was well developed. He communicated his results, with drawings, to ' The 

 Ibis' (1865, p. 143); and Professor Flower has also examined and described his specimens 

 (P. Z. S. 1865, p. 747). Dr. Murie has further verified the existence of a gular pouch in an 

 adult specimen which belonged to the Zoological Society of London ; and a very good sketch of 

 the open mouth accompanies his paper. The same author also proved the existence of a 

 similarly situated, but smaller, pouch in Otis kori ; and he shows that the habits of Otis australis 

 render it certain that in that bird the same structure is also largely developed. Through the 

 kindness of Lord Lilford I have had the opportunity of examining a specimen taken from a 

 Spanish example of Otis tarda, in which the very capacious pouch is preserved with the tongue, 

 trachea, and oesophagus. This specimen entirely agrees with those described by John Hunter 

 and the other anatomists who have since found it. 



"From the facts at present known regarding this subject it may be concluded that a large 

 sublingual air-pouch, which runs down the anterior portion of the neck, is present in the adult 

 of Otis tarda and some other species of Bustards during the breeding-season, that in young birds 

 this pouch is not developed, and that during the non-breeding-time this pouch may, and perhaps 

 always does, contract so considerably as to be become insiguificant. 



" If, as it seems probable to me, the pouch contracts and almost disappears in the intervals 

 between the breeding-seasons, the discrepancies in the different accounts may be explained on 

 the supposition that the birds examined were obtained at different times of the year. In a 

 specimen now living in the Zoological Society's Gardens, which ' showed off ' well during last 

 summer and early this spring, no orifice can be felt at the present time (June 24th) with the 

 finger, under the tongue, which could lead into any pouch, though the floor of the mouth is felt 

 to be carried a considerable way further back than usual." 



