pouch is preserved with the tongue, trachea, and eesophagus.
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
jt 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 Bustards
during the breeding-season, that, in young birds this pouch
is not developed, and that during, the non-hr.eeding-time this
pouch may, and perhaps always (lees, contract so censider-
ably as to become insignificant. §§
“ If, as it seems probable to me, the'pouch contracts and
almost disappears in the interyals 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- Societies Gardens, which -/showed
off’ well during last summer and early this spring, n^CBg&oe
can be felt at the present time ($une*24th). with the finger,
under the tongue,'which could load into;,any-pouch, though
the floor of the' mouth, i-s-felt to be carried. a/c#sidera^)le
way further hack than usual.”
Subsequnutl^Ffi?fesaq5:%rFo4 found that in an Australian
Bustard ( E u p o d o t i s - examined: by him,dh§re ,was
no gular pouch,, hut merely an oesophagus dilatable; ah will,
and greatly inflated during the “ show-off.”
The adult male has the beak clay-hip wn § the i^des ba^ft;
I the head and the* upper*part of ' the_neck;pale-gfey-i;tfrom
the chin,-parsing .backwards and downwards/on] each
ther-e 4s a tuft of b r is tle |:^ a t^ |^ about fqven .inches long,
directed across and partly eoftggajiag a vertically, .elongate;;!
strip of bare skin of a blu-ish-grgy colour the. ;lq^§r^p%r,t^f
the neck behind, the back, -and upper'; tad-^ye^tg^ot jan
I ochreonC-yeHow or pale jchesitnu^ barred.- tj^ng^i^ily.; '^itfe
black; ithq tail-featheass-,'-reddish, .barred ^th^: black and
tipped with1'white; the. wing'^dygrts -and tertials whit<^; the
primaries -/greyish-brown, vrith white- -sh-aftsj t-n^clt, in* front
covered with long tawnyteatherSj.wMchtb'ecome-tbicker lower
Sown, and form a distinct pectoral band of a rich chestnut;
below, and partly concealed by it*, a grey -band; all the under
surface of the body, the thighs, and under tail-coverts white ;
under surface of the tail-feathers barred transversely with
dusky grey ; legs, toes,-and claws, brown.
The whole length- nf the male bird/ft -forty-five, inches.
From the carpal joint to: t k | end of the wing, twenty-four
inches and a half: thef first quill-feather shorter than the
second; the second' shorter than the third or the'fourih,
which are the longest in the wing.
The whole'length of the female'^thirty-six inches, From
the j t i n f # * end o i the wing,’ fiineteen inches and a half.
The females generally do not exhibit thp lateral plumes from
tbe^phin, nor the rufous pectoral band, but in^ the Transact
s # of-':t f l Linuean Society of Bordeaux, M. de ,Ih)che-
brUne has.remarked blaat when the female has arrivedTat her
full growth, at the a g e 'S ,three or m M years, she has the
same; extern^ "characiers as the male, onfy.somewhatf|ss
developed: a^itchmnt nptJochfiM'edT by-other authors.
'The ybung at a month o® are coveri'd^ith a pale buff-
colou/ed' down, barred upojTlfhe back, wings, and sides with
black,/': .
The eltline-below is drawn, h a lfth e natural size/ from
the breast-bone -of a female of the ^reat Bustafd.'