Mr. H. Seebolim on the Genus Scolopax. 143 
of the Baltic, and in Scandinavia as far north as lat. 70°. 
In the valleys^of the Petchora and the Obi it ranges up to 
lat. 67^°, but in the valley of the Yenesay it has not been 
met with further north than lat. 66^°. It passes through 
North Persia and the Caucasus on migration, and winters in 
suitable localities throughout South Africa, though a few re¬ 
main in the basin of the Mediterranean. 
As its name implies, it is rather larger than the Common 
Snipe, which it resembles very closely in the colour and 
marking of its upper parts, though the white tips of its wing- 
coverts are more conspicuous. Its under parts are more 
profusely barred, but the chief distinction lies in the tail, 
which consists of sixteen feathers. In the adult Great Snipe 
the terminal half of the four outside tail-feathers on each 
side is unspotted white, whilst in the Common Snipe it is 
buff with a subterminal dark brown bar. 
28. Scolopax gallxnula. 
The Jack Snipe is a much smaller bird, scarcely half the 
weight of the Common Snipe, and easily distinguished by the 
purple gloss of its mantle and the green inside web of its 
scapulars. It breeds locally in the Arctic Regions as far 
north as lat. 70°, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and on the 
Dovrefjeld above the limits of forest-growth. It passes 
through Turkestan and Japan on migration, and winters in 
the basin of the Mediterranean, in Persia, Afghanistan, India, 
Ceylon, Burma, and Formosa. 
The geographical distribution of the Snipes is almost an 
exact parallel to that of the Thrushes, a group of birds quite 
as cosmopolitan. The Common Snipe and the Song-Thrush 
and their respective allies inhabit the Nearctic and Palse- 
arctic Regions. The Snipes of the Ethiopian Region and 
the Planestici (Turdus olivaceus and its allies) of the same 
Region find the closest possible allies in the Neotropical 
Region. The Himalayan Semi-Woodcocks and Ouzels (Me- 
rula) are represented by very near allies in tropical America, 
though the former have not left traces of their emigration in 
the Pacific Islands as the latter have done. The coincidence 
can scarcely be regarded as accidental, but appears to be an 
instance of the same causes producing the same effects. 
