already described in the case of other Ratite birds. Like most of them it is polygamous, and the male performs the duty of incubation, brooding more than a score of eggs, the produce of several females-facts known to Nieremberg more than two hundred and fifty years since, but hardly accepted by naturalists until recently.

From causes which, if explicable, do not here concern us, no examples of this bird seem to have been brought to Europe before the beginning of the present century, and accordingly the descriptions previously given of it by systematic writers were taken at second hand, and were mostly defective if not misleading. In 1803 Latham issued a wretched figure of the species from a half-grown

specimen in the Leverian Museum, and twenty years later said he had seen only one other, and that still younger, in Bullock's collection (Gen. Hist. B. viii. p. 379).1 A bird living in confinement at Strasburg in 1806 was, however, described and figured by Hammer in 1808 (Ann. du Muséum, xii. pp. 427-433, pl. 39), and, though he does not expressly say so, we may infer from his account that it had been a captive for some years. In England the Report of the Zoological Society for 1833 announced the Rhea as having been exhibited for the first time in its gardens during the preceding twelvemonth. Since then many other living examples have been introduced, and it has bred both there and elsewhere in Britain, but the young do not seem to be very easily reared.2

Though considerably smaller than the Ostrich, and, as before stated, wanting its fine plumes, the Rhea in general aspect far more resembles that bird than the other Ratitæ. The feathers of the head and neck, except on the crown and nape, where they are dark brown, are dingy white, and those of the body ash-coloured tinged with brown, while on the breast they are brownish-black, and on the belly and thighs white. In the course of the memorable voyage of the 'Beagle,' Darwin came to hear of another kind of Rhea, called by his informants Avestruz petise, and at Port Desire on the east coast of Patagonia he obtained an example of it, the imperfect skin of which enabled Gould to describe it (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1837, p. 35) as a second species of the genus, naming it after its discoverer. Rhea darwini differs in several well-marked characters from the earlier known R. americana. Its bill is shorter than its head; its tarsi are reticulated instead of scutellated in front, with the upper part feathered instead of being bare; and the plumage of its body and wings is very different, each feather being tipped with a distinct whitish band, while that of the head and neck is greyish-brown. A further distinction is also asserted to be shewn by the eggs-those of R. americana being of a yellowish-white, while those of R. darwini have a bluish tinge. Some years afterwards Mr. Sclater described (op. cit. 1860, p. 207) a third and smaller species, more closely resembling the R. americana, but having apparently a longer bill, whence he named it R. macrorhyncha, more slender tarsi and shorter toes, while its general colour is very much darker, the body and wings being of a brownish-grey mixed with black. The precise geographical range of these three species is still undetermined. While R. americana is known to extend from Paraguay and southern Brazil through the state of La Plata to an uncertain distance in Patagonia, R. darwini seems to be the proper 1 The ninth edition of the Companion to this collection (1810, p. 121) states that the specimen "was brought alive" [? to England].

2 Interesting accounts of the breeding of this bird in confinement are given, with much other valuable matter, by Mr. Harting in the work already cited.

inhabitant of the country last named, though M. Claraz asserts (op. cit. 1885, p. 324) that it is occasionally found to the northward of the Rio Negro, which had formerly been regarded as its limit, and, moreover, that flocks of the two species commingled may be very frequently seen in the district between that river and the Rio Colorado. On the "pampas" R. americana is said to associate with herds of deer (Cariacus campestris), and R. darwini to be the constant companion of guanacos (Lama huanacus)-just as in Africa the Ostrich seeks the society of zebras and antelopes. As for R. macrorhyncha, it was found by Forbes (Ibis, 1881, pp. 360, 361) to inhabit the dry and open "sertoes" of north-eastern Brazil, a discovery the more interesting since it was in that part of the country that Marcgrave and Piso became acquainted with a bird of this kind, though the existence of any species of Rhea in the district had been long overlooked by or unknown to succeeding travellers.1

RHINOCEROS-BIRD, an old book-name for one or more of the HORNBILLS (p. 433), and occasionally used by modern SouthAfrican travellers for the OX-PECKER (p. 680).

RIBS, if typically developed, have a double attachment to the vertebræ a capitulum or "head" articulating with the centrum of a vertebra, and a tuberculum or knob movably applied to the transverse process of the same vertebra. The portion next to the 66 head is known as the "neck," and to it succeeds the shaft, composed of two pieces, the dorsal or vertebral (to the posterior margin of which is generally attached an UNCINATE PROCESS) and the ventral, which is sometimes called the sternal or sterno-costal rib. If this ventral piece reaches and articulates with the sternum, the whole is called a true" Rib; but if the sternum is not reached, the whole is called a "false" Rib, even if the ventral piece be present.

66

According to their position Ribs are usually distinguished as (1) Cervical Ribs possessing only a short shaft, while both head and tubercle are immovably fused with the vertebra; (2) Cervico-dorsal Ribs movably attached to the vertebræ, being in number from 1 to 4 on each side, with a shortened shaft which may in some cases carry a small ventral piece; (3) Thoracic Ribs, connecting the vertebral column with the sternum, from 3 to 9 in number-as

1 Beside the works above named and those of other recognized authorities on the ornithology of South America such as Azara, Prince Max of Wied, Prof. Burmeister and others, more or less valuable information on the subject is to be found in Darwin's Voyage; Dr. Böcking's Monographie des Nandu" in (Wiegmann's) Archiv für Naturgeschichte (1863, i. pp. 213-241); Prof. R. O. Cunningham's Natural History of the Strait of Magellan and paper in the Zoological Society's Proceedings for 1871 (pp. 105-110), as well as Dr. Gadow's still more important anatomical contributions in the same journal for 1885 (pp. 308 et seqq.)

3 or 4 in Columbidæ, 4 or 5 in Passeres and most Picaria, 4 to 7 in Steganopodes and 4 to 9 in Anseres; (4) Lumbar Ribs, following the Thoracic, and often consisting only of a short dorsal piece which is thus frequently fused with the overlapping part of the ILIUM. The number of Ribs varies (not so much as a whole, but according to the regions to which they belong) among closely-allied species as well as among individuals of the same species. Usually an increased number of cervical or lumbar "false" Ribs means a reduced number of "true" or thoracic Ribs, and vice versa. Speaking generally, a greater number of Ribs, and especially of thoracic Ribs, indicates a lower and therefore phylogenetically older condition, a feature which is found in the Bird not only in its embryonic but even during its adolescent stage. From a taxonomic point of view Ribs are valueless.

RICE-BIRD, one of the many names of the BOBOLINK (p. 46), and perhaps locally applied in the East Indies to others not at all allied (cf. PADDY-BIRD, p. 683).

RICHEL-BIRD (etymology 1 and spelling doubtful) said to be a local name of the Lesser TERN.

RIFLEMAN - BIRD, or RIFLE - BIRD, names given by the English in Australia to a very beautiful inhabitant of that country,2 probably because in coloration it resembled the well-known uniform of the rifle-regiments of the British army, while in its long and projecting hypochondriac plumes and short tail a further likeness might be traced to the hanging pelisse and the jacket formerly worn by the members of those corps. Be that as it may, the cock bird is clothed in velvety-black generally glossed with rich purple, but having each feather of the abdomen broadly tipped with a chevron of green bronze, while the crown of the head is covered with scale-like feathers of glittering green, and on the throat gleams a triangular patch of brilliant bluish emerald, a colour that reappears on the whole upper surface of the middle pair of tailquills. The hen is greyish-brown above, the crown striated with dull white; the chin, throat and a streak behind the eye are pale ochreous, and the lower parts deep buff, each feather bearing a black chevron. According to James Wilson (Ill. Zool. pl. xi.),

1 "Rekels" (Cathol. Angl. p. 302), "Richelle" or "Rychelle" (Prompt. Parvul. pp. 66, 433), derived from reke or reek (smoke), is an old word for incense, but no connexion with the bird's name is apparent.

2 Its English name seems to be first printed in 1825 by Barron Field (Geog. Mem. N. S. Wales, p. 503). In 1828 Lesson and Garnot said (Voy. de la Coquille, Zool. p. 669) that it was applied "pour rappeler que ce fut un soldat de la garnison [of New South Wales] qui le tua le premier, "-which seems to be an insufficient reason, though the statement as to the bird's first murderer may be true. The Rifleman of New Zealand is Acarthidositta chloris.

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. victoriæ 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. magnifica (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, pl. 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 (Vict. Nat. ii. p. 165) the egg of the Queensland species, P. victoria, 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 Paradiseidæ, 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. 165). RING-OUSEL, Turdus torquatus, see OUSEL (p. 667).

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

1 Some writers have amended Swainson's faulty name in the form Ptilornis, but that is a mistake.