790 RING-DOVE—RING-PLOVER 
specimens of both sexes were obtained by Sir T. Brisbane at Port 
Macquarie, whence, in August 1823, they were sent to the Edinburgh 
Museum, where they arrived the following year; but the species 
was first described by Swainson in January 1825 (Zool. Journ. i. 
p- 481) as the type of a new genus Péiloris, more properly written 
Ptilorrhis,) and it is generally known in ornithology as P. paradisea. 
It inhabits the northern part of New South Wales and southern 
part of Queensland as far as Wide Bay, beyond which its place is 
taken by a kindred species, the P. victorix of Gould, which was 
found by John Macgillivray on the shores and islets of Rockingham 
Bay. Further to the north, in York Peninsula, occurs what is 
considered a third species, P. alberti, very closely allied to and by 
some authorities thought to be identical with the P. magnifica 
(Vieillot) of New Guinea—the “PRomERoPS” of many writers. 
From that country a fifth species, P. wilsont, has also been described 
by Mr. Ogden (Proc. Acad. Philad. 1875, p. 451, pl. 25). Little is 
known of the habits of any of them, but the Rifleman-bird proper 
is said to get its food by thrusting its somewhat long bill under 
the loose bark on the boles or boughs of trees, along the latter of 
which it runs swiftly, or by searching for it on the ground beneath. 
During the pairing-season the males mount to the higher branches 
and there display and trim their brilliant plumage in the morning 
sun, or fly from tree to tree uttering a note which is syllabled 
“yass ” greatly prolonged, but at the same time making, apparently 
with their wings, an extraordinary noise like that caused by the 
shaking of a piece of stiff silk stuff. In February 1887 Mr. A. J. 
Campbell of Melbourne described (Vict. Nat. ii. p. 165) the egg of 
the Queensland species, P. victorivw, which he had lately received 
from Rockingham Bay, being apparently the first authentic 
account of the nidification of any species of the genus ever 
given. The nest is said to have been an open one, placed in dense 
scrub, and containing two eggs of a light flesh-colour with subdued 
spots and small blotches of dull red or brown. The genus Ptilorrhis 
is now generally considered to belong to the Paradiseidx, or 
Brirps-OF-PARADISE, and in his Monograph of that Family all the 
species then known are beautifully figured by Mr. Elliot, as will 
doubtless be the case also in the similar work by Dr. Sharpe 
now in course of publication. 
RING-DOVE, properly Columba palumbus, see Dove (p. 162); 
but a name often misapplied to the Collared or Barbary Dove (p. 165). 
RING-OUSEL, Z'urdus torquatus, see OUSEL (p. 667). 
RING-PLOVER, A gialitis hiaticola, see PLOVER (p. 482). This 
1 Some writers have amended Swainson’s faulty name in the form Pédlornis, 
but that is a mistake, 
