47D 



SCOLOPAX MEGALA. 



SWINHOE' S SNIPE. 



Scolopax rectricibus viginti : quarum duodecim angustae sunt (4 ad 8 rriillim. 



No local races of this species are known. 



Diagnosis. 



Variations. 



Gallinago megala, Swinhoe, Ibis, 1861, p. 343. 

 Gallinago heteroeaca, Cabanis, Journ. Orn. 1872, p. 317. 

 Scolopax megala (Swinhue), Rosenb. Malay Archip. p. 278 (1878). 



Plates. — Unfigured. 



Habits. — Swinhoe, Ibis, 1860, p. 66. 



Eggs. — Dybowski, Journ. Orn. 1873, p. 104. 



Swinhoe's Snipe may be most easily recognized by its tail. It has 12 feathers (6 on 

 each side) which vary from '15 to *3 inch in width, in addition to the eight central 

 feathers (making 20 altogether). It is a slightly larger bird than the Pintail Snipe, but is 

 not so large as Latham's Snipe, the length of wing varying from 5 - 4 to 5'6 inch. So far as 

 I know there is no difference of any kind in the colour or pattern of colour between this 

 species and several of its allies. They only differ in dimensions and in the number and 

 shape of the outer tail-feathers. It breeds in South-east Siberia from Lake Baikal to the 

 north island of Japan, and, passing through China on migration, winters in the islands of 

 the Malay Archipelago. 



Synonymy. 



Literature. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



