SNIPE 883 



Ceylon, Borneo, Java and China. This so closely resembles the 

 last-mentioned that the differences between them cannot be briefly 

 expressed.^ The Australian Region also has its Snake-bird, which 

 is by some regarded as forming a fourth species, P. novee-hoUandias ; 

 but others unite it to that last-mentioned, which is perhaps some- 

 what variable, and it would seem (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1877, p. 349) 

 that examples from New Guinea diff"er somewhat from those in- 

 habiting Australia itself. 



The anatomy of the genus Plotus has been dealt with more 

 fully than that of most forms. Beside the excellent description 

 of the American bird's alimentary canal furnished to Audubon by 

 Macgillivray, other important points in its structure have been 

 well set forth by Garrod and Forbes (Froc. Zool. Soc. 1876, pp. 

 335-345, pis. xxvi.-xxviii. ; 1878, pp. 679-681; and 1882, pp. 

 208-212), shewing among other things that there is an appreciable 

 anatomical difference between the species of the New World and 

 of the Old ; while the osteology of P. melanogaster has been admir- 

 ably described and illustrated by Prof. Milne-Edwards in M. 

 Grandidier's great work {Ois. Madag. pp. 691-695, pis. 284, 285). 

 In all the species the neck aff"ords a feature which seems to be 

 unique. The first seven of the cervical vertebrae form a continuous 

 curve with its concavity forward, but the eighth articulates with 

 the seventh nearly at a right angle, and, when the bird is at rest, 

 lies horizontally. The ninth is directed downwards almost as 

 abruptly, and those which succeed present a gentle forward con- 

 vexity. The muscles moving this curious framework are as 

 curiously specialized, and the result of the whole piece of mechanism 

 is to enable the bird to spear with facility its fishy prey. 



SNIPE, or SNITE — the latter being also its Anglo-Saxon form 

 (Icel. SnijM, Dutch Snip, Germ. Schnepfe) — one of the commonest 

 Limicoline birds, in high repute no less for the table than for the 

 exciting sport it affords. It is the Scolopax gallinago of Linnaeus, 

 but by many later writers separated from that genus, the type of 

 which is the WOODCOCK, and hence has been variously named 

 Gallinago cselestis, G. media, or G. scolopacina. Though considerable 

 numbers are still bred in the British Islands, notwithstanding the 

 diminished area suitable for them, most of those that fall to the 

 gun are undoubtedly of foreign origin, arriving from Scandinavia 

 towards the close of the summer or later, and many will outstay 

 the winter if the weather be not too severe, while the home-bred 

 birds emigrate in autumn to return the following spring. Of late 

 years our markets have been chiefly supplied from abroad, mostly 

 from Holland. 



^ Remains of a still smaller species, P. nanus, now extinct, have been found 

 in Mauritius (Trans. Zool. Soc. xiii. p. 288). 



