140 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax, 



but the other ten species can only be satisfactorily deter- 

 mined by the width of their outside tail-feathers, which mea- 

 sure '2 inch or less, whilst those of the four species now to 

 be considered measure *3 inch or more. 



These four species only breed in the Nearctic and Palte- 

 arctic Regions, or the Northern Zone ; and, with the curious 

 exception of East Siberia, no part of the Northern Zone is 

 inhabited by any other species of Snipe. 



25. Scolopax gallinago. 



The Common Snipe breeds throughout the whole of North 

 Europe and Siberia, but it is very rare north of lat. 70°, and in 

 the southern portion of its breeding-range it is chiefly confined 

 to mountain-chains. Its range extends west to Iceland and 

 the Faroes, and possibly to South Greenland, and it is said 

 that in both the former localities a few remain to winter. It 

 has been said to breed in Algeria, and is known to do so on 

 the southern slopes of the Alps and in South Russia. Both 

 Severtzow and Scully found it breeding in Turkestan ; and 

 Prjevalsky says that a few remain to breed in South-east 

 Mongolia. It is a winter visitor to the basin of the Mediter- 

 ranean and to North Africa, as far south in the west as the 

 Azores, Madeira, the Canaries, and the valley of the Gambia, 

 and in the east as far as the southern shores of the Gulf of 

 Aden. In Asia it winters in Persia, India, Ceylon, the 

 Andaman Islands, and Burma. It has once occurred on the 

 Malay Peninsula, but it passes regularly along the coasts of 

 Japan on migration to winter in China, Formosa, and the 

 Philippine Islands. 



26. Scolopax gallinago wilsoni. 



A comparison of a large series of skins of the North- 

 American Snipe with a still larger series of examples of the 

 Common Snipe presents some curious anomalies. The 

 extreme forms of the two species may be diagnosed as 

 follows : — 



