OTIDID^, 137 



Family OTIDIU^. 



The family of Bustards, which is the only one in the suborder 

 Otides, contains birds ranging in size from that of a small partridge 

 to birds weighing as much, or more than, 40 lbs. They are generally 

 of sturdy build, with comparatively long necks and legs, the latter very 

 strong and furnished with three toes only. These, the toes, are 

 remarkably broad and fleshy, but at the time short in comparison 

 to the size of the bird they have to support. The claws are short 

 and blunt. The tarsi are reticulated with small, often unequal, scales 

 and the toes are scutellated above. 



In some species the males possess a small gular pouch, which is 

 connected with an opening under the tongue. 



The tail feathers vary from sixteen to twenty in number in 

 different species, and the primaries number eleven, the first being 

 of considerable length. 



The young are hatched covered with down, and can run about 

 almost immediately after leaving the egg. 



Otididse of one or more species inhabit the three continents 

 of the old world — Europe, Asia and Africa ; and one species — 

 a very close relation of our Great Indian Bustard — is also found 

 in Australia. Home genera and species, such as Otis tarda, extend 

 over a vast extent of country ; whilst others, again — for example 

 Sypheotis — are very local in their distribution. 



Within Indian limits we find six .species, which are generally 

 divided into four genera, but many systematists, the late Dr. E. 

 Bowdler-Sharpe amongst others, divide two of our genera, Otis 

 and Sypheotis, yet again ; I, however, retain Blanford's classification 

 and omit Sharpe's genera Tetrax and Houbaropsis. 



