Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



494 



SCOLOPAX. 



The difference between the Brazilian and Cayenne Giant Snipes has been already 

 pointed out. The former has been obtained near the source of the Parana and near 

 Buenos Ayres. Its reported occurrence in Peru and Cayenne may possibly be correct, but 

 the evidence is scarcely conclusive. 



SCOLOPAX FRENATA. 



BRAZILIAN SNIPE. 



Diagnosis. Scolopax rectricibus sedecim, quarum laterales angustse (minus quam 5 millim.), et valde brunneo 

 fasciatse sunt: rostro breviore (minus quam 75 millim.). 



Variations. 



Synonymy. 



This species varies so much that I have been obliged to recognize three races as sub- 

 specifically distinct from the typical form. 



Scolopax frenata l , Illiger,fide Lichtenstein, Verz. Doubl. p. 75 (1823, descript. null.) 

 Scolopax braziliensis, Swainson §■ Richardson, Faun. Bor.-Amer. ii. p. 400 (1831). 

 Gallinago frenata (IMg.), Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 579 (1856). 

 Scolopax frenata brasiliensis (Siv. §• Rick.), Seebohm, Ibis, 1886, p. 138. 



Literature. 



Specific 

 characters. 



Plates. — Unfigured. 



Habits. — Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 198. 



Eggs, obtained by Capt. Harrison near Buenos Ayres, resemble dark varieties of those of the 

 Common Snipe in colour, and measure l - 55 by 1-15 inch. 



Azara's Snipe may be diagnosed as having sixteen tail-feathers, of which the outermost 

 are very narrow, less than '2 inch icicle, and crossed by jive or six brown bands. As a 

 further distinction from S. nobilis, in which the outer tail-feathers are "25 inch wide, it is 

 safest to add, bill less than three inches long. 



1 I cannot agree with Messrs. Sclater and Salvin (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1868, p. 144) that Lichtenstein based 

 his name upon Azara's " Becasina prima." He based it upon a skin of a Snipe from Brazil, still in the Berlin 

 Museum, labelled " Scolopax frenata " by Illiger. He erroneously gave as a synonym no. 387 instead of 3S8 

 of Azara, a bird which is not known to have occurred in Brazil. 





