SNIPES AND WOODCOCKS. 
as type of that genus by Bonaparte himself. I therefore propose the new 
genus-name NEOSPILURA with solitaria Hodgson as type. 
All the remaining species classed by Seebohm as Aberrant Snipes, and 
all the Typical Snipes of the same author, are characterised by a similarity of 
coloration that is almost puzzhng, especially as no great discrepancies in size 
occur. The only species that Sharpe removed from Gallinago is the 8. gallinula 
of Linne, which was admitted as a monotypic representative of the genus 
Limnocryptes. When Seebohm lumped the whole under Scolopax, he wrote 
{l.c.f p. 462) : “ [Authors] have placed the American Woodcock {Philohela 
7mnor (Gmelin) and the Jack Snipe {Ly^nnocryptes gallinula (Linne) ) in distinct 
genera, because in the former some of the primaries are remarkably attenuated 
and in the latter the bill and the sternum are slightly exceptional, regardless 
of the facts that the American Woodcock is apparently more nearly related 
to the European Woodcock than either of them are to the Moluccan Woodcock, 
and that the Jack Snipe and the Common Snipe are obviously nearer related 
to each other than either of them are to the Imperial Snipe of Colombia . . . 
It can scarcely be denied that in the Snipes, at all events, differences in the 
pattern of colour are of older genetic date, and therefore of higher generic 
value than so called structural differences.” 
The peculiarities of Seebohm’s arguments become noticeable when it is 
shown that the “ Imperial Snipe of Colombia ” is a “ Woodcock.” 
However, though gallinula Linne is typically gallinagine in coloration, it is 
more richly coloured, is much smaller than other “ Snipes,” has a short 
somewhat rusticoline bill though the legs and feet are gallinagine ; the tail is 
more distinctly wedge-shaped, and is composed of twelve feathers. There 
can be no objection to the recognition of the genus Lyynnocryptes by genus- 
splitters, but I should have anticipated absolute rejection by writers proposing 
genus-lumping. It has been shown, however, that the sternum is aberrant 
and other features of internal anatomy are said to differ from those of 
G. gallinago. The only logical conclusion is that where distinct structural 
differences are superficially apparent in members of this group, internal 
differences may be coincident even as Bonaparte has stated in the case of 
stenum. Eliminatmg gallinula we have now about a dozen species of 
“ Snipe ” varying little in size and coloration but some of which show 
somewhat important structural alterations. 
Three species, on this account, were included by Seebohm in his Aberrant 
Snipes, viz. stenura Bonaparte, 7negala Swinhoe, and hardwickii Gray 
(= australis Latham preoccupied). 
The tail-feathers in G. gallinago are fourteen in number, but sometimes 
sixteen occur ; in all the other Typical Snipes of Seebohm with the exception 
VOL. m. 
293 
