d. That means the fastest
shearer--the man who runs rings round the rest, eh?"

1894. `Geelong Grammar School Quarterly,' April, p. 26:

"Another favourite [school] phrase is a `regular ringer.'
Great excellence is implied by this expression."

1896. A. B. Paterson, `Man from Snowy River,' p. 162:

"The Shearers sat in the firelight, hearty and hale and strong,
After the hard day's shearing, passing the joke along
The `ringer' that shore a hundred, as they never were shorn
before,
And the novice who toiling bravely had tommyhawked half a
score."

<hw>Ring-neck</hw>, <i>n</i>. the equivalent of <i>Jackaroo</i>
(q.v.). A term used in the back blocks in reference to the
white collar not infrequently worn by a <i>Jackaroo</i> on his
first appearance and when unaccustomed to the life of the bush.
The term is derived from the supposed resemblance of the collar
to the light- coloured band round the neck of the Ring-neck
Parrakeet.

<hw>Rings, to run round</hw>: to beat out and out. A
picturesque bit of Australian slang. One runner runs straight
to the goal, the other is so much better that he can run round
and round his competitor, and yet reach the goal first.

1891. `The Argus,' Oct.10, p. 13, col. 3:

"Considine could run rings round the lot of them."

1897. `The Argus,' Jan. 15, p. 6, col. 5:

"As athletes the cocoons can run rings round the beans;
they can jump out of a tumbler."

<hw>Ring-tail</hw>, or <hw>Ring-tailed Opossum</hw>, <i>n</i>.
See <i>Pseudochirus</i> and <i>Opossum</i>.

<hw>Rinka-sporum</hw>, <i>n</i>. a mis-spelt name for the
Australian varieties of the tribe of <i>Rhyncosporeae</i>,
<i>N.O. Cyperaceae</i>. This tribe includes twenty-one genera,
of which <i>Rhynchospora</i> (the type), <i>Schaenus</i>,
<i>Cladium</i>, and <i>Remirea</i> are widely distributed,
and the others are chiefly small genera of the Southern
Hemisphere, especially Australia. (`Century.')

1885. R. M. Praed, `Australian Life,' p. 93:

"Rinka-sporum, a mass of white bloom."

<hw>Riro-riro</hw>, <i>n</i>. a bird. Maori name for the
Grey-Warbler of New Zealand, <i>Gerygone flaviventris</i>,
Gray. See <i>Gerygone</i>.

1888. W. L. Buller, `Birds of New Zealand,' vol. i. p. 44:

[A full description.]

1889. Cassell's `Picturesque Australasia,' vol. iv. p. 163:

"A little wren managed to squeeze itself through, and it flew
off to Kurangai-tuku, and cried, `Kurangai-tuku, the man