486 



SCOLOPAX. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Common Snipe breeds throughout the whole of North Europe and Siberia, but is 

 very rare north of lat. 70°, and in the southern portion of its breeding-range is chiefly 

 confined to mountain-chains. Its range extends west to Iceland and the Faroes, and 

 possibly to South Greenland, and it is said that in both the former localities a few remain 

 to winter. It has been said to breed in Algeria, and is known to do so on the southern 

 slopes of the Alps and 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, the Canaries, and the valley of the Gambia, and in the east as 

 far as the southern shores of the Gulf of Aden. In Asia it winters in Persia, India, 

 Ceylon, the Andaman Islands, and Burma. It has once occurred on the Malay Peninsula, 

 but passes regularly along the coasts of Japan on migration, to winter in China, Formosa, 

 and the Philippine Islands. 



* * 



jif* North- American Snipe. 



SCOLOPAX GALLINAGO WILSONI. 



NOBTH-AMERICAN SNIPE. 

 Diagnosis. Scolopax gallinago rectricibus sedecim, quarum exteruEe paulo attenuatEe (circ. 7 millim. lat.) sunt. 



Variations. The North-Amcrican Snipe appears completely to intergrade with the Common Snipe. 



Synonymy. Scolopax delicata, Ord, Suppl. Wilson's Am. On. p. 218 (1825). 



Scolopax wilsonii, Temminck, text to PI. Enl. no. 403 (1826) . 

 Scolopax drummondii, ( 

 Scolopax douglasii, i '^^''*«*'"» ^ Richardson, Faun. Bor.-Amer. ii. pp. 400, 501 (1831) , 



Gallinago wilsoni [Temm.), Bonap. Camp. List B. Eur. and N. Amer. p. 52 (1838). 

 Gallinago media wilsoni (Temm.), Ridgiuay, Norn. N. Amer. Birds, p. 44 (1881). 

 Scolopax gallinago wilsoni {Temm.), Seebohm, British Birds, in. p. 241 (1885). 

 Gallinago delicata {Ord), Coues ^ Co. Check-list N. Amer. Birds, p. 148 (1886). 



