Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax. 139 



eacli species the range of variation is so large that the con- 

 struction of hard-and-fast diagnoses is very difficult. The 

 Semi-Woodcocks naturally divide themselves into two groups : 

 half the species having the inner and outer webs of the first 

 primary uniform in colour, whilst in the other half the outer 

 web is white or barred with Avhite. The same character 

 appears to be also an important one in the typical Snipes ; 

 and, so far as those which inhabit Europe, Asia, Africa, and 

 North America are concerned, it appears to be a fairly con- 

 stant one; but in South America it breaks down altogether. 

 In the four subspecific forms or local races of Scolopax 

 frenata the outer web is sometimes white, sometimes brown, 

 occasionally white on the basal half and brown on the ter- 

 minal half, and examples occur in which it is white on one 

 wing and brown on the other. The number of tail-feathers 

 is also so variable in many, perhaps in most, of the species 

 that its practical value as a diagnostic character is very small 

 indeed. The extent to which the outer tail-feathers are 

 barred does not vary quite so much as the colour of the 

 axillaries in some species ; but the shape of the outer tail- 

 feathers appears to be slightly more reliable. There can be 

 little doubt that the diagnosis of one or more tail-feathers on 

 each side stiffened and attenuated, though somewhat vague, 

 would exclude the five Woodcocks and the four typical 

 Snipes yet to be considered, whilst it would include the seven 

 Semi- Woodcocks and the twelve typical Snipes already 

 considered. The importance of the outer tail-feathers as a 

 specific character in this genus becomes obvious when the 

 somewhat startling fact is realized that, if the outer four or 

 five feathers on each side of the tail were cut away in ex- 

 amples of S. gallinago, S. ivilsoni, and S. paraguayce, it would 

 be impossible to guess to which of the three species any one 

 of them belonged. 



It may appear an arbitrary and clumsy arrangement ; but 

 it is necessary to draw some definite line which will diagnose 

 the four typical Snipes yet to be considered from the twelve 

 preceding species. The two monster Snipes of South Ame- 

 rica may be dismissed on account of their barred primaries, 



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