SCOLOPAX. 475 



outer web of the first primary plain brown like the inner web. The Asiatic species is 

 distinguishable at a glance by the broad buflF dorsal stripes, which are almost obsolete in 

 its South-American allies, as well as by its smaller size (wing under 6| inches instead of 

 over 6 inches), and, if the tail be perfect, by having eighteen rectrices. 



SCOLOPAX SOLITARIA. 



HIMALAYAN SOLITARY SNIPE. 



ScoLOPAX scapularibus albo non fulvo striatis : rectricibus duodeviginti. Diagnosis. 



Examples from Japan differ so much from extreme forms from Turkestan that they may Variations, 

 fairly be regarded as subspecifically distinct. 



Gallinago solitaria, Hodgson, Proc. Zool. Sac. 1836^ p. 8. Synonymy. 



Scolopax hyemalis, Eversmann, Bull. Soc. Mosc. xviii. pt. i. p. 257 (1845). 

 Spilura solitaria {Hodgson), Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 579 (1856). 

 Scolopax solitaria [Hodgson), Swinhoe, Ibis, 1863, p. 444. 



Plates. — Eversmann, Bull. Soc. Mosc. 1845, pi. vi. ; Hume & Marshall, Game Birds India &c. Literature. 



iii. p. 333. 



Habits.") ,, , „ , 



^ t Hume & Marshall, loc. cit. 



Eggs. J 



The Solitary Snipe is the only species with more than 16 tail-feathers in which the ^P^oifio ^^ 

 upper parts, especially the outer margins of the scapulars, are streaked with white instead of 

 buff. In addition to the eight central tail-feathers, which are broad and suffused with 

 chestnut towards the tip, there are usually five narrower feathers on each side (varying in 

 width from '15 to -3 inch) which are dark brown, barred with white for at least the 

 terminal two-thirds of their length. I have never found more than 18 tail-feathers, but 

 Jerdon says that there are 20, and Hume makes the number vary from 16 to 24 ! 



Examples from Turkestan and the Himalayas differ slightly Irom those found in East 



3p 2 



