136 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax. 
feathers, and one as many as twenty-fonr. This extraordinary 
development of additional tail-feathers in East Siberia is 
very remarkable, and is not confined to the Snipes. Two 
species of Ground-Thrushes, Geocichla varia from East 
Siberia and G. horsfieldi from Java (the latter obviously the 
result of a comparatively recent emigration from the former), 
are distinguished from all other Thrushes by having fourteen 
instead of twelve tail-feathers; and the Sea-Eagle of Kamt- 
schatka also stands alone amongst his congeners as the pos¬ 
sessor of fourteen tail-feathers. It is perhaps impossible to 
discover any rational explanation of these curious facts. 
Modern evolutionists have invented the hypothesis of Sexual 
Selection to explain those facts which appear to be incapable 
of explanation by the theory of Natural Selection. It seems 
impossible to imagine any benefit that could accrue to a 
species by increasing the number of its tail-feathers; and 
philosophers will probably explain this curious series of 
facts by attributing it to the influence of sexual selection, on 
the same grounds that many a man, not a philosopher, ex¬ 
plains an action of which he is unable to give a rational 
defence, by saying that it was a whim of his wife ! 
20. Scolopax ^quatorialis *. 
By far the handsomest species of Snipe is that which in-, 
habits Africa south and east of the Great Desert; and it is 
specially interesting because the geographical distribution of 
it and its allies presents a parallel case to that of the three 
species just mentioned. The Ethiopian Snipe is remarkable 
for the clear definition of its markings and the velvety gloss 
of the black on its upper parts. Evidently it is very nearly 
* This species is often called Scolopax nigripennis, a name given by 
Bonaparte to a Snipe said to have come from the Cape. He describes 
the outer web of the first primary as black, whence the name nigripennis. 
As, however, the Ethiopian Snipe happens to be distinguished from the 
other species which breeds in the Ethiopian Region, and from the spe¬ 
cies which only winters there, by the fact that the outer webs of its first 
primaries are white , there can be little doubt that the name is a slip of the 
pen for albipennis ; but the adoption of either name is, of course, out of 
the question. 
