SCOLOPAX. 



499 



The Noble Snipe and its very close ally the Madagascar Snipe are the only two true 

 Snipes (i. e. with longitudinal markings on tfie crown, and no silvery tips to the tail-feathers) 

 which have bills more than 3J indies long (measured from the frontal feathers) and no 

 traces of bars on the primaries. They have 16 tail-feathers, and the outer ones on each 

 side are not more than \ inch wide, are barred on both webs, and are far removed from 

 white in colour. The difference between the two forms is pointed out in the next article. 

 They differ principally from Latham's Snipe in having a shorter, because more rounded wing 

 (first primary only exceeding the fourth in length by \ instead of finch), by having a longer 

 bill (3j to 4|- inches instead of 2-| to 2^ inches), and by having two tail-feathers less. 



The Noble Snipe is only known from 

 Colombia. 



the plateaux of the Andes of Ecuador and 



Specific 

 characters. 



Geographi- 

 cal distribu- 

 tion. 



* * 



African Snipes. 



SCOLOPAX NOBILIS MACROD ACTYLA 1 . 



MADAGASCAR SNIPE. 



Scolopax nobilis macrodactyla (tarsus et digitus medius cum ungue 86 ad 92 millim. 



Diagnosis. 



There is every reason to suppose that the Madagascar Snipe completely intergrades with Variations, 

 its South-American ally. 



Gallinago macrodactyla, Bonap. Icon. Fauna Ital., text to pi. 43, p. 3 (1832). 

 Gallinago bernieri, Pucheran, Rev. Zool. 1845, p. 279. 



Gallinago longirostris, Lichtenstein, Num. Av. Mus. Zool. Berol. p. 93 (1854). 

 Scolopax nobilis macrodactyla [Bonap.), Seebohm, Ibis, 1886, p. 133. 



Synonymy. 



Plates.— Milne-Edw. & Grand. Hist. Madag., Ois. iv. pi. 260. 

 Habits.— Roch & Newton, Ibis, 1863, p. 172. 

 Eggs.— Harting, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 356. 



Literature. 



The Madagascar Snipe has sixteen tail-feathers like its Colombian ally. It is not Subspecific 

 known that it differs from it in colour, except perhaps that the outer tail-feathers are more e aracters - 



1 It is unusual to give the later name precedence over the earlier one, but in the present case common 

 sense demands that the rule be violated. S. macrodactyla nobilis would imply a large variety of the 

 Madagascar Snipe, which would be erroneous ; S. nobilis macrodactyla means a variety of the Noble Snipe 

 with a larger foot than usual, which is precisely the state of the case. 



3s 2 



