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Show 580 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PTILORIS. [June 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 sufficient 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 serranus. 2. Sterna atro-fasciata, Ph. et Landb. 1. 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. About 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, described 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-birds indiscriminately by all ornithologists 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 specimens of the birds from both the localities in which they are found, the majority heretofore received being without wings or legs or |