8C0L0PAX. 



481 



The Jack Snipe and the Auckland Snipe are the two smallest species in the genus, Specific 

 but the former may perhaps be most easily diagnosed from all its congeners by the purple '''^^^'^''^^^''■ 

 gloss on its mantle and the metallic green on the inside webs of its scapulars. 



■rX>^M^ 



It is irregularly distributed, during the breeding-season, in the Arctic Regions from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific. It breeds on the Dovrefjeld above the limit of forest-growth, 

 and throughout the tundras of Lapland. Henke says that it is only seen on migration at 

 Archangel ; Hoffmann records it from the source of the Petchora ; and Middendorff met 

 with it on the Boganida River, east of the Yenesay, in lat. 70°. It doubtless breeds in 

 North-east Siberia, since it has occurred repeatedly in Japan and once in Formosa. 

 Dybowski did not meet with it near Lake Baikal, but Pinsch records it on migration from 

 South-west Siberia. Severtzow says that it passes through Turkestan ; and Bogdanow 

 records it in spring and autumn in the valley of the Volga. It winters throughout the 

 basin of the Mediterranean and inland in Africa north of the Great Desert, as well as in 

 Persia, Afghanistan, India, Ceylon, and Burma, 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The sternum of the Jack Snipe differs from that of its congeners in having two Sternum. 

 notches on each side of the posterior margin. This circumstance and the fact that it has 



3 Q 



