Gentjs— E RISMATURA. 
Ekismatuea Bonaparte, Giorn. Arcad. (Roma), Vol. 
LIL, p. 208, 1832 Type 0. ja7naicensis. 
Also spelt — 
Erimistura Degland & Gerbe, Om. Eur., Vol. II., p. 565, 1867. 
Oxyura Bonaparte, Annals Lyc. Nat. Hist. New 
York, Vol. II., p. 390, 1828 .. .. .. Type 0. ja 7 naicensis. 
Not Oxyurus Swainson, 1824, 
Gy7nnuTa Nuttall, Manual Ornith., Vol. II., p. 426, 
1834 , . . . . . . . . . . . T3rpe 0. ja7naicensis. 
Plectrum Gistel, Naturg. des Thier. Schul. 1848, p. x. Tjrpe 0. ja 7 naicensis. 
Anatine birds with short bill, short neck, short wings, long tail of narrow 
stiff feathers and short stout legs. 
The bill is short, about as long as the head, comparatively deep and 
somewhat depressed towards tip ; on the internal edges of the upper mandible 
coarse lameUse occur. The culmen ridge is ill-defined ; nostrils are small 
ovals situated half way towards the tip ; the nail is well defined though small 
and the tip curves rather inwardly. The under mandible is rather narrow, 
the interramal tract being unfeathered and the anterior portion is not 
separated, though long. 
The wing is short, the feathers very narrow ; the first three primaries 
are almost subequal, the first slightly longest. 
The tail is composed of sixteen stiff pointed feathers, the upper tad- 
coverts being short and insignificant. It is less than half the length of the 
wing, but half as long again as the culmen or metatarsus. 
The legs are very short and stout, entirely covered with reticulate 
scales ; the metatarsus is about equal to the culmen and about one-fourth 
the length of the wing. The toes are very long and fully webbed, the outer 
toe being longest ; the middle toe is as long as the tail, while the hind toe 
is small, with a small lobe. 
In the Nov. Zool, Vol. XVIII., p. 9, 1911, I preferred Oxyura to 
Eris7natura, as the former had been rejected owing to the prior Oxyurus ; 
according to the International Code both these names should be preserved. 
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