Gentjs-A USTROTIS. 
Austrotis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. IT., p. 12, 
1913 . . . . . . . . . . . . , . Type A. australis. 
Otidine birds with medium-sized bill, long wings, long legs, and long tail. 
The bill is rather long, flattened, wide at the base, with the nostrils placed 
near the base of the culmen. The culmen is less than one-third the length 
of the tail. The crown of the head bears a crest, but this is not extended 
on to the hind-neck. The feathers of the throat and fore-neck are also 
elongated. The wing is long and rounded, the fifth primary longest ; the 
wing-length is more than twice that of the tail. 
The tail, composed of twenty feathers, is long and rounded and is more 
than three times the length of the culmen and less than half that of the wing. 
The legs are strong and long ; the metatarsal covering is composed 
throughout of hexagonal scales ; the metatarsus is less than one-third the length 
of the wing. The toes are strong and comparatively long ; no hind toe. 
The Bustards, of which only one representative occurs in Australia, 
form a well-defined group — regarded as somewhat intermediate between the 
Cranes and Charadriine birds : the majority of their characters favour the 
latter, and in the “ Handlist ” they simply appear as a suborder of the 
Charadriiformes. They differ remarkably however from the remaining sub- 
orders in external appearance, being mostly birds of large size, very stoutly 
built, yet able to fly well and run very quickly. Several species have a 
gular pouch which is capable of inflation, with an opening underneath 
the tongue. \ 
The technical characters of the group, as regards external features, are 
thus summarised in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum, 
Vol. XIII., p. 282 : “ Bill rather flattened and obtuse, the nostrils ovate 
and pervious, the frontal feathers descending to the hinder margin of the 
nostrils. Wings with the secondaries almost as long as the primaries. Tarsi 
longer than middle toe and claw, covered with reticulate scales, the toes 
scaled across, the nails flattened, with a horny lateral edge ; no haUux.” 
At the same place the Australian species was included in the genus 
Eupodotis, used for an African form. In the Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 8, 
1911, I pointed out that this use of Eupodotis was incorrect and that the 
name to be used was Choriotis. Upon recently examining the species in the 
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