156 Mr. H. Seebolim 07i the Orn'ithology of Siberia. 



an operation which seemed so engrossing that they appeared 

 seldom to discover until they were on the ground that they 

 had chosen a spot to alight within twenty yards of a man 

 with a gun. It was amusing to see them find out their mis- 

 take. Sometimes as soon as they caught my eye they would 

 take wing and fly quietly away ; but more often they would 

 hurry oif as fast as their legs would carry them, and hide 

 behind a tuft of grass or a bush. I never heard the Pin-tailed 

 Snipe ^' drum," as the Common Snipe often does, when wheel- 

 ing round and round at a considerable height in the air ; nor 

 did I ever hear the tyik-tyuk so characteristic of the Common 

 Snipe. I think the Pin-tailed Snipe is much easier to shoot 

 than our bird. The flight seems to me slower and less zigzag. 



Gallinago scolopacina, Bonap. 



The Common Snipe was either much rarer or much more 

 wary than the Pin-tailed Snipe ; for out of twenty skins which 

 I brought home with me four proved to be those of G. sco- 

 lopacina, and sixteen those of G. stenura. They probably 

 arrive on the Arctic circle at the same time, as my first Pin- 

 tailed Snipe was shot on the 5th of June and my first Com- 

 mon Snipe on the 9th. I found a nest of the Common Snipe 

 in a marsh on the outskirts of the forest in lat. Q7° on the 

 6th of July. The eggs were considerably incubated. I can 

 find no diff'erences in size or general coloration in these two 

 Snipes ; but a minute examination discloses the following cha- 

 racters : — My skins of G. scolopacina vary in length of culmen 

 from 2*87 to 3 inches, whilst those of G. stenura only mea- 

 sure from 2*33 to 2*73. G. stenura may be always at once 

 recognized by the very narrow and stiff feathers on each side 

 of the tail. The tail of this bird is also shorter, in my skins 

 varying from r65 to 1"9. In my skins of G . scolopacina the 

 length of the tail varies from 2*4 to 2'6. In G. stenura the 

 under wing-coverts are all distinctly barred with black, whilst 

 in G. scolopacina many of them are pure white. These two 

 species of Snipe probably breed north of the Arctic circle, 

 as I saw nothing more of them at the Koo-ray'-i-ka after the 

 middle of June. 



