Genus —MICROPTILOTIS. 
Microptilotis Mathews, Austral Avian Record, 
Vol. I., pt. 5, p. 116, Dec. 24th, 1912. Type 
(by original designation).. .. .. .. Ptilotis gracilis Gould. 
I wrote “ Differs from Ptilotis in its absolutely longer though more slender 
bill, while the wing is shorter and the legs and feet weaker.” 
Although this genus has been confused with the preceding, it can be easily 
distinguished if careful comparison be made. The birds are smaller with 
comparatively longer weaker bills, shorter wings and weaker feet. 
The bill is more curved, more compressed, tip more depressed, the anterior 
edges of the mandibles finely serrate, more noticeable in some specimens than 
in others, but always more marked than in the preceding genus, where any 
serrations are scarcely noticeable ; the bill is longer than the head, the under 
mandible more slender, the gonys not so marked and comparatively longer. 
The first primary of the wing is half the length of the second, which is longer 
than the secondaries, and the third primary is longer than the seventh. 
The tail is comparatively shorter, and the legs shorter, and the feet weaker, 
the front of the tarsus obscurely scutellate. 
VOL. XI. 
433 
