790 RING-DO VER1NG-PLO VER 



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 Ptiloris, more properly written 

 Ptilorrhis, 1 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. victorias 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. magnified 

 (Vieillot) of New Guinea the "PROMEROPS" of many writers. 

 From that country a fifth species, P. wilsoni, has also been described 

 by Mr. Ogden (Proc. Acad. Philad. 1875, p. 451, pi. 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 (Viet. Nat. ii. p. 165) the egg of 

 the Queensland species, P. wctorise, 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 Paradiseid%, or 

 BIRDS-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. 1 65). 



RING-OUSEL, Turdus torquatus, see OUSEL (p. 667). 

 RING-PLOVER, ^gialitis hiaticola, see PLOVER (p. 482). This 



1 Some writers have amended Swainson's faulty name in the form Ptilornis, 

 but that is a mistake. 



