OTIDID A. 579 
Family OTIDIDA, or BUSTARDS. 
The Bustards are a somewhat ill-defined little family, apparently mter- 
mediate between the Plovers and the Game Birds. Forbes divided them 
into two families, the Bustards and the Stone-Curlews, which he regarded 
as very nearly allied to each other and to the Rails, and not very distantly 
related to the Game Birds and the Cuckoos. Sclater also recognizes the 
two families ; but places the Bustards in the same Order as the Cranes, 
and the Stone-Curlews in the same Order as that of the Plovers, in each 
case associating groups of birds which, in the opinion of Forbes, are very 
distantly related. The notches on each side of the posterior margin of the 
sternum in the Bustards are two in number, deeper than in the Ibises and 
Spoonbills, but not so deep as in the Sandpipers. Huxley, in his classifi- 
cation, founded upon the modification of the cranial bones, places them next 
to the Cranes and the Rails, and not far from the Sandpipers, the Gulls, 
Game Birds, &. Nitzsch says that in the structure of the skeleton, 
particularly in the form of the sternum and furcula, the Bustards are very 
nearly allied to the Sandpipers, especially to the Curlews. In the structure 
of the skull they most closely approach the Stone-Curlews; but in some 
other respects they diverge very distinctly from the type of the Sand- 
pipers. In their pterylosis, myology, and digestive organs they approach 
nearest to the Cranes and the Rails. 
The Bustards have only one complete moult in the year, in autumn, but 
some of the feathers of the head and neck are changed in spring. 
In their external characters the Bustards appear to be an intermediate 
link between the Game Birds and the Plovers. The style of coloration 
and the shape of the bill generally very closely resemble those of some of 
the Grouse, but the wings are long and pointed, and the tail is short and 
rounded. The legs are rather long, the toes very short, and the hind toe 
is wanting. The young of the Bustards, like the young of the Game Birds 
and Plovers, are covered with down when they are hatched, and they are 
able to run before they are many hours old. 
This family contains about thirty-five species, and is almost cosmo- 
politan, bemg only absent from the Arctic and Nearctic Regions. Three 
species are European, and are, or were, British. Four other Species 
occasionally wander into Europe, one of which is said to have visited our 
islands. 
