130 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax. 



tween the Himalayan and Japanese Solitary Snipes may be 

 expressed as follows : — 



Scolopax solitaria. Scolopax japonica. 



Lower breast white, witli no bars. Lower breast white, barred with 



brown. 

 Pale dorsal stripes very broad. Pale dorsal stripes very narrow. 



Primaries marbled towards the tip. Primaries plain throughout. 



Japanese examples appear to be constant, as are all the 

 Turkestan examples that I have seen ; but in India slightly 

 intermediate forms are found. 



9. Scolopax stricklandi. 



Strickland^s Snipe is said to be a forest bird, inhabiting 

 Chili and Patagonia. It resembles the two preceding species 

 very closely, but may be distinguished in a moment by the 

 fact that wherever they are white it is buff in colour. 



10. Scolopax jamesoni. 



Jameson^s Snipe is a resident in the mountain plateaux of 

 the northern Andes^ where it breeds at an elevation of ten or 

 twelve thousand feet, in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and 

 Bolivia. In appearance it is somewhat intermediate be- 

 tween its two allies S. nemoricola and S. imperialis. It 

 agrees with the former in the general colour of its plumage 

 (which might almost be called grey when compared with the 

 rich chestnut so characteristic of the latter), whilst it resem- 

 bles its near neighbour in the size of its bill — 3^ inches 

 instead of 2| inches. 



11. Scolopax imperialis. 



The Imperial Snipe is only known from a single Bogota 

 skin which looks like a rufous phase of the last-mentioned 

 species, within the limits of the range of which it was found. 



12. Scolopax aucklandica. 



The Auckland Snipe has occurred in New Zealand near the 

 town of Auckland; on the Chatham Islands, rather less than a 

 thousand miles to the south-east ; and on Auckland Isliaud, 

 rather more than a thousand miles to the south-west. It is 

 probably a mere coincidence that its island life has dwarfed it 



