Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax. 135 



in 1863. It is difficult to say why Latham's Snipe did not 

 stop in Australia and breed there; but there must be some- 

 thing either in the climate or food of that continent which 

 does not suit the true Snipes during the breeding-season, as 

 none of them are known to breed in Australia, Be that as 

 it may, one parly of emigrants seem to have flown almost due 

 west to find a suitable home in Madagascar, whilst another 

 must have flown almost due east to secure excellent quarters 

 in Colombia. The birds which founded these two colonies, 

 having discovered situations suitable for both summer and 

 winter residence, probably neither changed their habits nor 

 their structure. Their descendants are probably almost 

 identical in form and colour with the common ancestors of 

 the three forms when they were residents in Japan, and that 

 is probably the explanation of their remarkable similarity at 

 the present day. They have never passed through the ordeal 

 of annual migration or been subjected to the sifting process 

 involved in the non-survival of the least fit to endure the 

 perils of such journeys. ' The alternative hypothesis that the 

 Japan bird has retained its characters, and that the Mada- 

 gascan and Colombian species have changed, is open to the 

 objection that it seems impossible that two colonies so re- 

 motely situated could have independently varied in the same 

 direction to a similar extent. 



There is one very remarkable fact connected with this 

 group of Snipes, and that is that the number of tail-feathers 

 (which is very variable in this genus) appears to vary in 

 distinct connection with geographical distribution, as if it 

 were a climatic rather than a genetic variation. The Snipes 

 inhabiting Europe and Africa have only fourteen tail-feathers 

 (-S. gallinago, S. cequatorialis, and S. 7nacroclactyla) ; those 

 inhabiting North and South America have sixteen tail-feathers 

 {S. wilsoni, S. paraguayce, S. brasiliensis, S. magellanica, 

 S. andina, and S. nobilis), whilst the one inhabiting Asia (S. 

 australis) has eighteen tail-feathers. The range oiS. gallinago 

 also extends to Asia, where it is said frequently to increase 

 the number of its tail-feathers to sixteen. Of the other 

 species of Snipe inhabiting East Siberia, two have twenty tail- 



