476 



SCOLOPAX. 



Subspeeific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



Siberia and Japan. They may perhaps be regarded as subspecifieally distinct, and may 

 generally be distinguished as follows: — 



Scolopax solitaria. 

 Lower breast white with no bars. 

 Pale dorsal stripes very broad. 

 Primaries marbled towards the tip. 



Scolopax japonica. 

 Lower breast white, barred with brown. 

 Pale dorsal stripes very narrow. 

 Primaries plain throughout. 



Japanese examples appear to be constant, as are all the Turkestan examples that I 

 have seen ; but in India slightly intermediate forms are found. Japanese birds are also, on 

 an average, slightly smaller, varying in length of wing from 6*0 to 6 - 4 inch, whilst examples 

 from Turkestan and India vary in length of wing from 6 - 4 to 6"8 inch. 



The Himalayan Solitary Snipe breeds at an elevation of from 10,000 to 15,000 feet 

 from Turkestan, north-east as far as the Altai range, and south-east in the Himalayas as 

 far as Assam, descending in autumn to winter in the lower valleys. Its nearest ally is 

 scarcely more than subspecifieally distinct from it, and probably interbreeds with it 

 somewhere in South-east Siberia. 



SCOLOPAX SOLITARIA JAP0NICA. 



JAPANESE SOLE1ABY SNIPE. 



Diagnosis. Scolopax solitaria dorsi strigis pallidis angustioribns. 



Variations. The Japanese form of this species appears completely to intergrade with the Himalayan 

 form. 



Synonymy. Gallinago japonica, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1873, p. 364. 



Scolopax solitaria japonica (Sioinhoe), Seebohm, Ibis, 1886, p. 129. 



Literature. Plates. — David & Oustalet, Ois. Chine, pi. 122. 



Habits. — Swinhoe, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1863, p. 313 ; Swinhoe, Ibis, 1873, p. 364. 



Eggs. — Unknown. 



The slight differences between the Japanese and Himalayan forms of the Solitary 

 Snipe have been already pointed out, and may perhaps be regarded as sufficiently important 

 to justify the subspecific separation of these very closely allied races. 



