PTILOPxI S V IC T O R IM
PTILORIS VICTORIA.
QUEEN VICTORIA’S RIFLE-BIRD.
PTILORIS VICTORIAS, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1849) p. I l l , pi. 12.—Id. Birds o f Austr. Suppl. pi.—Id. Hand-b.Birds Austr. vol. i. p. 593.
—Reich. Hand, der spec. Ora. p. 329.
PTILORNIS VICTORIAS, Gray, Hand-1. Birds, pt. i; (1869) p. 105, sp. 1272.—Elliot, Proc. Zool. Soc. (1 871) p. 582.—Bon. Consp. Gen. Av.
(1 850) p. 412. sp. 2.—Von Rosenb. Journ. fur Omith. (1 864) p. 123.
H a b . Barnard Islands, N. E. coast of Australia (M a c g i l l i v r a y ) .
Queen Victoria’s Rifle-bird, described by Gould in 1849, very closely resembles the P. paradisem; but it apparently
has a smaller bill, and the breast-marlrings differ slightly in their arrangement. “ This bird,” says Mr. Macgillivray,
as quoted by Gould, “ was seen by us during the survey of the N.E. coast of Australia on the Barnard Isles,
and on the adjacent shores o f the mainland at Rockingham Bay, in the immediate vicinity of Kennedy’s first
camp. On one of the Barnard Isles (No. I l l , in lat. 17° 43' S.), which is covered with dense brush, I found
Queen Victoria’s Rifle-bird in considerable abundance. Females and young males were common, but rather sh y ;
however, by sitting down and quietly watching in some favourite locality, one or more would soon alight on a
limb or branch, run along it with great celerity, stop abruptly every now and then to thrust its beak under
the loose bark in search o f insects, and then fly off as suddenly as it had arrived. . Occasionally I have seen
one anxiously watching me from behind a branch, its head and neck only being visible. At this time (June)
the young males were very pugnacious; and upon one occasion three of them were so intent upon their quarrel
that they allowed me to approach sufficiently near to kill them all with a single charge of dust shot. The
adult males were comparatively rare, always solitary and very shy. I never saw them upon the trees, but only
in the thick bushes and masses of climbing plants beneath th em; on detecting the vicinity of man they
immediately shuffled off among the branches towards the opposite side of the thicket, and flew off for a short
distance. I did not observe them to utter any call or cry; this, however, may have arisen from my attention
not having been so much directed to them as to the females and young males, which I was more anxious to
procure, the very different style of their colouring having led me to believe they were a new species of
Pomatorhinm."
Male.—Smaller in size but very similar in plumage to the P. paradisem, the principal difference being that
the purple on the upper part of the breast is apparently restricted, and forms a band across that portion of
the body between the metallic throat and the green of the lower parts. Bill smaller than the P. paradiseus,
and, with the legs and feet, black.
Female.—Closely resembles that of P. paradisem, but may be distinguished by its smaller s iz e ; upper part
of head dark brown, striated with greyish brown; superciliary stripe and throat buff; upper parts greyish brown,
shaded with olive; underparts deep buff, the feathers having a brown spot near the tips, and irregularly barred
on the flanks with the- same. Bill and feet black.