OCR Text |
Show 456 MR. W. A. FORBES ON T H E [May 16, liarities. The condition of the male Biziura is nearly identical with that found in the females of other Ducks. Very probably it may be that characteristic of all the Erismaturina, of which, however, only Erismatura rubida has, so far as I know, been examined as regards this point. In that species the syrinx, judging from Macgillivray's Fig. 2. Mouth of Baziura lobata. description1, is quite similar to that of Biziura, there being no tympanum whatever, but simply a long box formed of several rings united. The examination of these two specimens has revealed a feature in them very unexpected in Ducks, and only comparable with that found in certain Bustards. This is the possession of a small, but distinct, subgular pouch, formed, as in the males of Otis tarda, by 1 Audubon, Orn. Biography, iv. p. 331. |