126 BinnS OF TIEKTiA DEL FUEGO 



Family SCOLOPACID^ 

 GALLINAGO PARAGUAY^ (Vicillot) 



Becasina, -1~«m, Pa.raros, Paraguay y La Plata, iii, p. 270, 1805. 

 Scolopax paraguayse,Fiei7?o^, Nouv. Diet, d' Hist. Nat.,u\, p. 356, 1816; 



Gould and Darwin, Vuy. "'Beagle,'" Birds, p. 131, 1841. 

 Scolopax magellanicus, King. Zool. Joum., iv, p. 93, 1828 ; Gould 



and Darwin, Voy. " Bi^agle," Birds, p. 131, 1841. 



Gallinago magellanicus, Abbott, ibis, p. 156, 1861. 



GallinagO paraguayse, Dumford, ibis, 1877, p. 198; Sdater and 

 Hudson, Argentine Orn., ii, p. 181, 1889 ; Oustalet, Miss. Sci. Cap Horn, 

 Ois., p. 124, 1891 ; Sharpe, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. xxiv, p. 650, 1896 ; 

 Oates, Gat. Birds' Eggs Brit. Mus., ii, p. 63, 1902. 



Habitat.' — South America, south, of the Equator (except Ecuador and Peru), 

 to Tierra del Fuego ; the Falkland Islands. 



? , Useless Bay Settlement, 31st Aug. ; ? , 7th Sept. ; ^J, San Sebastian 

 Settlement, 30th Oct. ; nest and eggs, Cheena Creek Settlement, 17th Nov., 

 1904. 



Iris — dark brown ; bill — brown ; legs — greenish yellow. 



The Paraguayan Snipe arrives in the island on the break up 

 of winter and breeds in vast numbers. The earliest record I have 

 of its appearance is August 31st, when a specimen was brought 

 me by a cattleman who had killed it with his whip. From 

 that time onwards I saw an odd bird or two in the marshes 

 at the head of Useless Bay, but never any considerable number 

 there, though the ground seemed suitable enough. There are 

 vast numbers of these birds in the marshes at the mouth of the 

 Rio San Martin. There are also a good many at Sara Settlement, 

 at Cheena Creek, and in certain places on the downs to the south 

 of Useless Bay. At San Sebastian Settlement, in October, when 

 breeding, they are drumming in the air, forty or fifty at a time, 

 day and night. By no means are they confined to the marshes : 

 they are commonly met with in soft peaty places, away from 

 water, in the Sierra Carmen Sylva. Like all Snipes, they are 



