580 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PTILORIS. [Julie 20, 



Ibis, 1861, p. 165; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1860, p. 390; Scl. et Salv. 

 Ibis, 1869, p. 284 ; Ph. et Landb. Cat. Av. Chil. p. 47. 



Stercorarius antarcticus, Pelzeln, Orn. Novara, p. 150; Ph. et 

 Landb. Av. Chil. p. 47. 



Stercorarius catarrhactes, Schl. Mus. des P.-B. Lari, p. 45. 



Hab. Patagonia (Cunningham) ; Falkland Islands {Abbott). 



It seems to be very doubtful whether this Skua is really distinct 

 from the Arctic form. We have not been able to examine a suffi- 

 cient number of specimens to satisfy ourselves upon this point. 



Appendix specierum nobis nondum obviarum. 



1. Sterna acutirostris, Tsch. Faun. Per. Aves, p. 305, from the 

 highlands of Peru, found in company with Larus serrunus. 



2. Sterna atro-fasciata, Ph. et Landb. I. c. p. 204, et Cat. Av. 

 Chil. p. 49, from Colchagua, Chili. 



4. Review of the Genus Ptiloris, Swainson. 

 By D. G. Elliot, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. 



[Received June 7, 1871.] 



Having for some time devoted my attention to the various genera 

 containing the different species of the Birds of Paradise, preparatory 

 to publishing a monograph of that beautiful family, I propose in the 

 present paper to offer some remarks upon the species of the genus 

 Ptiloris, concerning which not a little confusion regarding the 

 proper appellation and synonymy of two of them is to be observed 

 in various ornithological publications. Two totally different species 

 have been confounded together under the name of magnificus — one 

 inhabiting New Guinea, the other the north-eastern portion of 

 Australia. Ahout a year ago, a fine collection of birds from Cape 

 York, Australia, containing numerous examples of the Rifle-bird, 

 figured by Mr. Gould as magnificus, arrived in London ; and lately I 

 have received examples of the New-Guinea species. On comparing 

 the birds from these separate localities, their differences were at once 

 appreciable ; and it is only necessary to ascertain to which one the 

 term of magnificus was originally applied, as it is evident they cannot 

 both be retained under the same name. Vieillot in the • Nouveau 

 Dictionnaire d'Histoire Naturelle' (1819), vol. xxviii. p. 167, de- 

 scribed the bird from New Guinea under the name of Falcinellus 

 magnificus; and this has ever since been applied, under various generic 

 terms, to both species of Rifle-hirds indiscriminately by all ornitho- 

 logists who have had occasion to mention them. One, and probably 

 the chief cause of this mingling together of distinct forms is the 

 great difficulty experienced by all collectors in obtaining good speci- 

 mens of the birds from both the localities in which they are found, 

 the majority heretofore received being without wings or legs or 



