Official Checklist of the Birds of Australia. 
12 7 
PTILONORHYNCHUS 
PTILORIS : 
PRION . (Gk. saw) is the name of a genus of Petrels established by Lacepede oil 
account of the sawlike edges of the mandibles. The word has since been used 
as a common name. 
PRIONODURA : G. prionodes , saw-like : prion, saw, and nra (oura), tail. 
These names both signify feathered bill; ris (more 
correctly rhis, and rhynchos both being Greek words for 
bill. The name Rifle Bird was given to the genus 
Ptiloris, according to Lesson and Garnot (1828) “pour 
rappeler quo oe fut un sol da t de la garrison [of 
New South Wales] qui le tua le premier.” It has 
been said truly that this seems to be an insufficient 
reason, though' the statement as to the bird’s first 
v murderer may be true. 
PUFFINUS : Latinized form from English puffin. 
QUERQUEDULA * A kind of duclc, mentioned by Varro and Columella.. Prof. 
Skeat says that it is derived from an onomatopoeic base, querq or hark. 
rad jail : Native name of the duck was said to be radia . 
RALLUS : New Latin from F. rdle, a rail. 
RECURVIROSTRA : L. upturned bill—one of genera used by Linnaeus in 1758, 
Avocet is from an Italian diminutive avocetta from .Latin avis, a bird; the 
termination etta signifies grace or delicacy (Count Salvador*). 
reguloides : Vigors and Horsfield thought our Acanlhizidce “ resembled the 
genus Regulus most of all the European Sylriidaj ,” and called this species 
reguloides, meaning like the Beg alas. The name was first used by John Ray 
before the days of LinmcuB. There is a story that the word regulns (little 
king) was chosen for the wren, through the old' fable that the eagle was about 
to be made king of the birds, as being the highest flier, when the wren was 
found sitting on its back. As has been pointed out, an association of ideas 
may be the reason for the name O mhos ileus (G. earth king) being given to 
some of the family. See Emu, Vol. XXIIL, p. 322. 
R HIPID U R A : Lit. fantail. G. rhipis, rhipidos, fan, oura , tail. 
rifle-bird : See Ptiloris. 
rosella : See caledonicus. 
sanctus : See Halcyon. 
SCENOP(EETES : G. bower-builder (lit. stagomaker) ; scene , stage, tent, poicteli 
maker, poicin , to make. 
scripts: : “Written ” from the writing-like markings of the plumage. 
SCYTHROPS : “Sullen face.” Channel bill is Latham’s narno from the grooved 
bill. 
serralor : L. sawer; from the serrated bill. 
SPHECOTHERES : G. wasp-hunter, like Acridotlieres, locust hunter, for the 
Indian Myna. 
SQUATAROLA : New Latin for spuatarole , Venetian name for Gray Plover. 
(Willughby). 
TThese are names in which one-letterism crops up. Deriva- 
STAGONOPLEURA : J tions are G. pleura , side, stagon, spot, steganos, covered. 
STEGANOPLEURA : ] The word steganos with pous , foot, is used for an order 
[_ of web-footed birds— Steganopodes. 
STERNA : An old name first used by Turner, 1544, repeated by Gesner and others 
and adopted by Linnseus, 1758 (Sterna hirundo). 
STILTIA : From stilt, English for the French echasse, the name given to the bird 
by Brisson in 1700. 
