BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 161 

 CAPELLA PAKAGUAIAE (Yieillot) 



Scolopax parar/uaiae A''ieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat, vol. 3, 1816, p. 356. 

 (Paraguay.) 



Mathews and Iredale^'' call attention to an overlooked generic 

 name in Capella of Frenzel,^^ which as it Avas published in 1801 has 

 precedence over GaUinago Koch 1816, and must be used for the true 

 snipes. The only copy of Frenzel's work known seems to be the one 

 in the library of the late A. Newton at Cambridge. 



The two true snipe found in the level country of eastern and 

 southern South America are similar in general appearance and are 

 difficult to distinguish on casual inspection. After examination of 

 a small series it appears that they may be separated by the following 

 characters : 



o\ Markings of foreneck and upper breast broader, indistinct, especially on 

 lower foreneck; more buffy on breast and above (especially in fresh fall 

 plumage) ; outer rectrix tapering at tip ; longer tertials more or less 

 acuminate at distal end Capella paraguaiae, 



o.^ Markings of foreneck and upper breast finer, blacker, more sharply defined ; 

 breast and dorsal surface blacker, less buffy ; outer rectrix rounded, 

 almost truncate at tip ; longer tertials more or less rounded at distal 

 end Capella braziliensis. 



The relative length of outer secondaries and primaiy coverts 

 seems to be a variable character upon which one should not place 

 too strong reliance. On the whole, C. hraziliensis is darker and 

 C. paraguaiae paler in general tone. 



Capella andina Taczanowski has been considered a subspecies of 

 hraziliensis, but, on the basis of two specimens, seems best con- 

 sidered an offshoot of the same stock that has produced para- 

 guaiae, as it agrees with that species in pale tone of coloration, in 

 pointed outer rectrix, and in acuminate tertials. It is thus the 

 andean representative of a species that in the South Temperate 

 Zone ranges at lower altitudes. 



On June 29, 1920, near Berazategui, Buenos Aires, several Para- 

 guayan snipe were flushed in marshy spots along the Rio de la 

 Plata, and one that had been killed by a hunter was examined. One 

 was recorded at Dolores on October 21 and another seen near Con- 

 essa, between Dolores and Lavalle, on the day following. The 

 species was far from common here at this season, as none w^ere re- 

 corded in nearly three weeks' work around Lavalle. At Zapala, 

 Neuquen, on December 8, one flushed from a boggy seep at a tiny 

 spring where the spot of surrounding marshy vegetation at its 

 greatest dimensions was not more than 10 by 30 feet and arid slopes 



soAustr. Av. Rec, vol. 4, Dec. 16, 1920, p. 1.31. 



"^Capella Frenzel, Beschr. Vog. und Eyer Geg. Wittenberg, 1801, p. 58. (Type, 

 by monotypy, Scolopax coelestis Frenzel.) 



