Genus— GYPOICTINIA. 
Gypoictinia Kaup, Isis 1847, p. 114 .. .. .. Type G. mdanostema. 
Also spelt — 
Qypsictinia Kaup, Isis 1847, p. 120. 
Qypsoictinia Gray, Genera Birds, Vol. I., p. 11, 1849. 
Medium-sized Aquiline birds with comparatively large bills, long wings, 
medium tail and stout legs and feet. The bill is long, sharply pointed, wdth 
a large cere in which the nostrils are seen as large obliquely-set ovals 
semi-operculate : the upper mandible has the edges sinuate. The wing is 
long with the first primary less than the sixth ; the second, third, fourth and 
fifth are almost subequal, the third and fourth equal and longest. The tail 
is practically square and is less than half the length of the wing. 
The legs and feet are strong ; the tarsus is very thick, and feathered 
one-third down the front but not at the back ; the tarsal covering consists of 
reticulate scales, a row down the front being larger but not developed enough 
to be considered as scutes : they may otherwise be regarded as scutes 
diminished so as to appear as reticulate scales. 
The systematic ]DOsition of this genus must be regarded as uncertain until 
its osteology has been studied. First considered as a Buzzard, and so 
called in the vernacular still, it is at present systematically ranked 
with the Kites ; but I am not convinced that the final word has t^een 
said on its classification. Superficially, it cannot be regarded as an 
Australian evolution from Milvus, so that it may yet be proven to have 
descended from the Buteonine branch. 
