RIFLE-BIRD. 
The bird s call is rather a harsh one, but unbke any other bird’s call in the 
scnib, so cannot be mistaken. It is a kind of croaking sound, shrill and repeated 
once over. As a rule the female has a much softer and lower note, but she is 
usually very silent.” 
Mr, A. S. Le Souef states: “ Rifle-Bird call is generally two notes: 
Kre-e-e-e-e, kre-e-e-e ’ and sometimes two shorter notes of inquiry— 
‘Ka-ka.’ ” 
H. L. White then noted that a farthest west limit was made by the occur¬ 
rence of this species at Stewarts Brook, a tributary of the Upper Hunter River, 
about fifteen miles due east of Belltrees, and Jackson added that “at the end 
of several of the feathers in each vdng there was a small ‘ thom-shaped ’ 
appendage, which followed on at the extremity of the flne shaft-end of the 
feather.” 
Jackson then recorded from the Macpherson Range, South Queensland: 
“Eifle-Birds of Paradise were frequently seen, but were seldom recorded above 
the 3,800 feet level. On 28th November an adult male and female were observed 
in company with two young ones. Except that they were paler in colour, 
the young resembled the adult female. Their call was rather different, and more 
rasping than that of the adult birds. The handsome male birds appear 
more plentiful than the females.” 
Two subspecies may be admitted : 
Ptiloris ‘paradiseiLS paradiseus Swainson. 
New South Wales. 
Ptiloris paradiseus queenslandictts Mathews. 
Queensland. 
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