Genus— RAHCINTA. 
Rahcinta Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 3, p. 
58, April 7th, 1916. Type (by original designation) : Atrichia clamosa Gould. 
Atrichia Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xiv., March 1st, 
1844. Type (by monotypy) : A. clamosa Gould. 
Not — 
Atrichia Schranck, Fauna Boiea, Vol. 3, p. 54 (pref. Nov. 8th, 1802), 1803. 
This species, made the type of a new genus by Gould, is now apparently 
extinct. It has been searched for by the best Australian field ornitho- 
logists at the type locality, King George’s Sound, and elsewhere in West 
Australia without success. 
As noted previously from a superficial examination the bird would 
not excite a great deal of interest, only the legs showing abnormal features. 
The bill is conical and sharp pointed, laterally compressed and normally 
“ Timeliine,” the latter word used in the broadest sense. The nostrils 
are placed at the base of the upper mandible, appear as narrow linear 
slits, and semi-operculate : the feathers at the base approach but do not 
hide the bill. In the skin the skull is flattened, the “ total absence 
of vibrissse ” spoken of by Gould is a noticeable feature, though I 
conclude that vibrissse are sometimes yet present, though reduced in size 
and somewhat inconspicuous. 
The wings are short and rounded, the first primary being about 
half the length of the fifth which is equalled by the sixth to the tenth 
and sometimes even exceeded by the secondaries. The tail is very long, 
the feathers soft and broad : it is much graduated, the outer feathers 
being less than one-third the length of the centre ones. In the speci- 
mens examined the number of feathers do not reach ten, but that is 
probably the number. The legs are short and stout, scutellated both back 
and front, those in front being large and few, five in number, the edges 
straight ; those behind being narrow and numerous, more than twelve, and 
the edges slanting and broken towards the toes. The feet are propor- 
tionately large, the hind-toe stouter than the front ones, with the claw 
also proportionately longer. Gould compared this genus with Sphenura, 
his only remark being about the “ total absence of vibrissse.” As similar 
low forms in other countries, Bowdleria in New Zealand and Sphenoeacus 
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