VICTORIA 141 



A third skua comes from Asia to the northern 

 shores of Australia, and with it we get two distinct 

 and opposite phases of plumage colour showing 

 continuous variation. 



MIGRATION OF SNIPE 



The north — south annual migration of the large 

 snipe is indicated in map 60. The European Snipe 

 is really Asiatic as well, the term holarctic being 

 the correct one to use. 



The Eastern Snipe each year comes south in the 

 spring to Northern Australia, and returns to north- 

 ern high latitudes in the following February — 

 March. 



The Australian Snipe is not wholly Australian, 

 as it is born in Manchuria or in Japan, and regularly 

 migrates between Tasmania and the 50th parallel 

 of northern latitude. It is remarkable that these 

 "long bills" all meet in their migration on the 

 Phillipines. Gallinago australis nests in the grassy 

 flats at the base of the sacred Fujiyama at an alti- 

 tude of some 3,000 feet. If disturbed it indulges 

 in fancy flights with weird wing noises. The 

 young as soon as they are strong enough to leave 

 their snow topped Fujiyama fly southward and 

 make for the feeding swamps of their parents; in 

 southern Gippsland for example. 



By September or October the majority of snipe 

 have arrived. Worms, mellipedes and damp ground 



