242 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Snipes with sixteen tail-feathers are occasionally found in Europe; but I 

 have never had the good fortune to meet with one, and in the absence of 

 any information respecting the barring of the outer tail-feathers of these 

 examples it is impossible to say whether they are American birds which have 

 migrated to Europe or not. Hume states that in India Snipes are frequently 

 met with having sixteen tail-feathers, but also omits to give any information 

 respecting the barring of the outer ones. I have examined great numbers 

 of Snipes from China and Japan without being able to detect more than 

 fourteen tail-feathers. The subject requires further investigation. 



The Common Snipe breeds in Iceland and the Faroes, and a few are 

 said to remain in both these localities during the winter. It breeds 

 throughout the whole of North Europe and Siberia, but is very rare north 

 of lat. 70°, and in the southern portions of its breeding-range is chiefly 

 confined to mountain-ranges. It is known to breed on the southern slopes 

 of the Alps, and occasionally 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 Mediterranean and to North Africa, as far south in the west 

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

 east as far as the southern shores of the Gulf of Aden. Loche says that it 

 has been known to breed in Algeria. In Asia it winters in Persia, India, 

 Ceylon, the Andaman Islands, and Burma, and it has once occurred on 

 the Malay peninsula. It passes along the coasts of Japan on migration, 

 and winters in China, Formosa, and the Philippine Islands. 



The American form of the Common Snipe breeds in the Northern States 

 and in British America up to the Arctic circle, wintering in the Southern 

 States, the Bermudas, the West Indies, and in South America north of the 

 equator. In South Africa the Common Snipe is represented by a more 

 distantly allied species, S.cequatorialis, which also lias sixteen tail-feathers, 

 and otherwise differs from our bird in having the dark brown of the upper 

 parts replaced by velvety black, and the ground-colour of the two or three 

 outer tail-feathers on each side nearly pure white. 



Although the Common Snipe is apparently a resident in the British 

 Islands, it is only a summer visitor to the northern portions of the conti- 

 nent of Europe. It is one of the earliest birds of passage to arrive in 

 spring, appearing in Central Germany, in favourable seasons, during the 

 first half of March, and reaching Denmark before the close of that month. 

 It arrives in South Finland late in April, but does not reach Lapland until 

 the end of May. On the Arctic circle, in the valley of the Ycncsay, I did 

 not observe it before tlie first week of June, the fact being that on the first 

 of that month the whole country (lakes, rivers, and all) was covered with 

 snow to a depth of five or six feet. The return migration lasts in Central 

 Germany from the middle of August to the middle of October. 



