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. novx-hollandix ; 
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 differ 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 
Maegillivray, other important points in its structure have been 
well set forth by Garrod and Forbes (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1876, pp. 
335-345, pls. xxvi-xxvill.; 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, pls. 284, 285). 
In all the species the neck affords 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. Snipa, 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 Linnzus, 
- but by many later writers separated from that genus, the type of 
which is the Woopcock, and hence has been variously named 
Gallinago celestis, 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. 
1 Remains of a still smaller species, P. nanus, now extinct, have been found 
in Mauritius (Trans. Zool. Soc. xii, p. 288). 
