Mr. H. Seebolim on the Genus Scolopax. 143 



of the Baltic, and in Scandinavia as far north as lat. 70°. 

 In the valleys of the Petchora and the Obi it ranges up to 

 lat. Q7\°, but in the valley of the Yenesay it has not been 

 met with further north than lat. QQh°- It passes through 

 North Persia and the Caucasus on migration, and winters in 

 suitable localities throughout South Africa, though a few re- 

 main in the basin of the Mediterranean. 



As its name implies, it is rather larger than the Common 

 Snipe, which it resembles very .closely in the colour and 

 marking of its upper parts, though the white tips of its wing- 

 coverts are more conspicuous. Its under parts are more 

 profusely barred, but the chief distinction lies in the tail, 

 which consists of sixteen feathers. In the adult Great Snipe 

 the terminal half of the four outside tail-feathers on each 

 side is unspotted white, whilst in the Common Snipe it is 

 buff with a subterminal dark brown bar. 



28. Scolopax gallinula. 



The Jack Snipe is a much smaller bird, scarcely half the 

 weight of the Common Snipe, and easily distinguished by the 

 purple gloss of its mantle and the green inside web of its 

 scapulars. It breeds locally in the Arctic Regious as far 

 north as lat. 70°, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and on the 

 Dovrefjeld above the limits of forest-growth. It passes 

 through Turkestan and Japan on migration, and winters in 

 the basin of the Mediterranean, in Persia, Afghanistan, India, 

 Ceylon, Burma, and Formosa. 



The geographical distribution of the Snipes is almost an 

 exact parallel to that of the Thrushes, a group of birds quite 

 as cosmopolitan. The Common Snipe and the Song-Thrush 

 and their respective allies inhabit the Nearctic and Palse- 

 arctic Regions. The Snipes of the Ethiopian Region and 

 the Planestici [Tiirdas olivaceus and its allies) of the same 

 Region find the closest possible allies in the Neotropical 

 Region. The Himalayan Semi- Woodcocks and Ouzels {Me- 

 rula) are represented by very near allies in tropical America, 

 though the former have not left traces of their emigration in 

 the Pacific Islands as the latter have done. The coincidence 

 can scarcely be regarded as accidental, but appears to be an 

 instance of the same causes producing the same effects. 



