124) Mr. H. Seebolim on the Genus Scolopax. 



Snipe. This character confirms the five species mentioned 

 in the last paragraph as the only true Woodcocks. 



5th. The primaries of the Snipe are uniform in colour, 

 whilst those of the Woodcock are barred. This character 

 excludes three out of the five Woodcocks, but admits two 

 other species, neither of which possesses any of the four 

 previous characters, so that it may be dismissed. 



6th. The eggs of the three species of European Snipes, 

 and those of several species of African and American Snipes, 

 closely resemble each other, and differ widely from those of 

 the European and American species of Woodcocks. The eggs 

 of several species of both groups are unknown, but the eggs 

 of one at least of the two Snipes which the fifth character 

 would determine to be Woodcocks exactly resemble, except 

 in size, the eggs of the latter group. 



Other minor points might be mentioned, but enough has 

 been pointed out to show that Nature has drawn many lines 

 between the Snipes and the Woodcocks, but unfortunately she 

 has not drawn them in the same place. Two conclusions 

 may be arrived at from the foregoing facts. One of these is 

 that the characters of the Woodcocks and the Snipes are so 

 closely interlaced that no ornithologist attempting classifica- 

 tion on scientific principles would be likely to advise the sub- 

 division of such a natural group as the genus Scolopax. The 

 other conclusion requires consideration at greater length. 



Some ornithologists not only separate the Woodcocks 

 generically from the Snipes, but further subdivide each of 

 these groups. These writers have adopted a theory that 

 what they call structural characters are of generic value, 

 whilst they regard difl'erences of colour as only of specific 

 value. In accordance with this notion, they have placed 

 the American Woodcock and the Jack Snipe in distinct 

 genera, because in the former some of the primaries are 

 remarkably attenuated, and in the latter the bill and the 

 sternum are slightly exceptional, regardless of the facts that 

 the American Woodcock is apparently more nearly related 

 to the European Woodcock than either of them are to the 

 Moluccan Woodcock, and that the Jack Snipe and the 



