THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
Of the fan -tailed snipes the great or double snipe, often called the 
solitary snipe (G. major) y breeds in Northern Europe and Asia as far 
east as the valley of the Yenesei, and ranges south in winter to South 
Africa. It has the outer tail-feathers white, with a few black bars at the 
base of the outer web. As a winter-visitor to these islands in small numbers, 
it is well known, and is specially referred to elsewhere. G. nigripennis^ 
a very dark bird, with the ground-colour of the upperparts mostly black, 
and the three outer pairs of tail-feathers nearly pure white, the outer pair 
often entirely so, is peculiar to Africa, and G. macrodactyluy with a very 
long bill, measuring more than three and a half inches, is confined to 
Madagascar. 
Swinhoe’s snipe {G. megala), with twenty tail-feathers, the outer 
pairs being much narrower, inhabits Eastern Siberia, and ranges south 
in winter to China, Japan, the Philippines, Borneo, and the Moluccas. 
The three following species possess eighteen tail-feathers, the outer 
pairs, as in G. megala, being much narrower and rather stiff. G. australis 
breeds in Japan and winters in Australia and Tasmania. The Eastern 
solitary snipe {G, solitaria)^ a large and remarkably handsome species, 
inhabits Eastern Asia down to the Himalaya, and has occurred in 
Southern India, and the wood -snipe {G, nemoricola)^ a very dark coloured 
bird, is peculiar to the Indian Peninsula, Assam and Burma. 
Three very interesting small species of snipes, with very limited powers 
of flight, are met with on the islands off New Zealand: G. aucklandica, 
on the Auckland and Antipodes Islands; a dark form, G. huegeliy on 
the Snares Islands; and G. pusilla on the Chatham Islands. The latter 
is the smallest species of snipe known, and has a wing -measurement 
of less than four inches. 
South America is particularly rich in snipes ^ and no fewer than nine 
different species are found in that vast continent. Some of them are, 
comparatively speaking, very large birds, especially G. gigantea, from 
Brazil and Paraguay, and G. undulatay from Guiana, both of which have 
a wing measurement of 6*5 inches. The former is the largest of all the 
snipes, measuring a foot and a half from the tip of the bill to the end 
of the tail, and has a very long bill, more than five inches in length. 
The latter belongs to the same group as the common and Wilson’s snipes, 
but is a very much larger bird. 
Two of the species, G.frenata and G. paraguaicBy of the same size as the 
common snipe, have a very wide distribution, and are found over a large 
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