138 Mr. H. Seebohm on the Genus Scolopax. 
World it appears that many individuals never crossed tbe 
line, but, adopting migratory habits, followed the retreating 
cold almost to their old quarters, and in -consequence of 
their more changed conditions of life have themselves under¬ 
gone a somewhat greater change, and are now the Common 
and American Snipe respectively. 
The South-American form of the Common Snipe has an 
extended range, and varies to some extent in consequence. 
The Chilian Snipe appears to be confined to the highlands 
of Bolivia, Chili, the Argentine Republic, and Paraguay. In 
the latter country it meets with a very close ally— 
22. Scolopax frenata brasiliensis. 
The Brazilian Snipe is merely a small form of the preced¬ 
ing (wing 4J to 5 inches, instead of 5 to 6 inches). Its 
range extends from Paraguay, through Brazil, to Guiana 
and Venezuela. 
23. Scolopax frenata magellanica. 
The Falkland-Island Snipe is merely a pale form of the 
Chilian Snipe, breeding on the Falkland Islands and near 
the Straits of Magellan, migrating northwards in autumn 
along the east coast of South America as far north as Rio de 
Janeiro. These three Snipes do not differ in length of bill, 
which varies from 2*4 to 2’8 inches. 
24. Scolopax frenata andina. 
In the Peruvian Andes a Snipe occurs which we may call 
the Peruvian Snipe, combining the small dimensions of the 
Brazilian Snipe with a bill of only 2 inches in length. 
The last half-dozen species or subspecies 'of Snipe can 
scarcely be regarded as more than tropical forms of the 
Common Snipe. They vary very slightly in colour or pattern 
of colour, the variation between the species being scarcely 
greater than those within each species. It is a very remark¬ 
able fact that in a genus like Scolopax , containing twenty or 
thirty species distributed almost over the whole world, the 
variation in colour should be so small; and the fact is all the 
more remarkable when we discover that within the limits of 
