290 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



This is to clear a doubt as to this bird being seen 

 so far south, as expressed in correspondence in the 

 Field some considerable time ago, the signatures of 

 those mentioned being appended." 



It was with no little curiosity that I opened the 

 packet which accompanied this letter, and found, as 

 I had expected, that the bird sent was not the 

 European Woodcock, for which it had been 

 mistaken, but one of the large South American 

 snipes {Gallinago Jamesojii), which, from its size, 

 robust form, and general colouration, might well be 

 confounded with our better-known species. The 

 incident shows how important it is in cases of this 

 kind to forward the skin of the bird for identifica- 

 tion. Had no specimen accompanied this letter, 

 the solemn declaration made by four conscientious 

 eye-witnesses might have carried conviction to the 

 minds of many that a European Woodcock had 

 been actually shot at the southern extremity of 

 South America. As it is, the chief interest of 

 the occurrence lies in the fact that the acquisition of 

 this particular specimen extends the limit of the 

 southward range of this large snipe somewhat 

 further than was previously known, as may be 

 seen on reference to the descriptions and figures in 

 Messrs Sclater and Salvin's Exotic Ornithology, 

 1867, and to the fuller account of the South 

 American Scolopacidce given by the late Mr Henry 

 Seebohm in his monograph of this group of birds. 

 The specimen in question has been presented to 

 the British Museum, where, on account of the 



