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BIRDS OF ARGENTINA, PARAGUAY, URUGUAY, AND CHILE 161
CAPELLA PAKAGUAIAE (Yieillot)
Scolopax parar/uaiae A''ieillot, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat, vol. 3, 1816, p. 356.
(Paraguay.)
Mathews and Iredale^'' call attention to an overlooked generic
name in Capella of Frenzel,^^ which as it Avas published in 1801 has
precedence over GaUinago Koch 1816, and must be used for the true
snipes. The only copy of Frenzel's work known seems to be the one
in the library of the late A. Newton at Cambridge.
The two true snipe found in the level country of eastern and
southern South America are similar in general appearance and are
difficult to distinguish on casual inspection. After examination of
a small series it appears that they may be separated by the following
characters
:
o\ Markings of foreneck and upper breast broader, indistinct, especially on
lower foreneck; more buffy on breast and above (especially in fresh fall
plumage) ; outer rectrix tapering at tip ; longer tertials more or less
acuminate at distal end Capella paraguaiae,
o.^ Markings of foreneck and upper breast finer, blacker, more sharply defined
breast and dorsal surface blacker, less buffy ; outer rectrix rounded,
almost truncate at tip ; longer tertials more or less rounded at distal
end Capella braziliensis.
The relative length of outer secondaries and primaiy coverts
seems to be a variable character upon which one should not place
too strong reliance. On the whole, C. hraziliensis is darker and
C. paraguaiae paler in general tone.
Capella andina Taczanowski has been considered a subspecies of
hraziliensis, but, on the basis of two specimens, seems best con-
sidered an offshoot of the same stock that has produced para-
guaiae, as it agrees with that species in pale tone of coloration, in
pointed outer rectrix, and in acuminate tertials. It is thus the
andean representative of a species that in the South Temperate
Zone ranges at lower altitudes.
On June 29, 1920, near Berazategui, Buenos Aires, several Paraguayan
snipe were flushed in marshy spots along the Rio de la
Plata, and one that had been killed by a hunter was examined. One
was recorded at Dolores on October 21 and another seen near Conessa,
between Dolores and Lavalle, on the day following. The
species was far from common here at this season, as none w^ere re-
corded in nearly three weeks' work around Lavalle. At Zapala,
Neuquen, on December 8, one flushed from a boggy seep at a tiny
spring where the spot of surrounding marshy vegetation at its
greatest dimensions was not more than 10 by 30 feet and arid slopes
soAustr. Av. Rec, vol. 4, Dec. 16, 1920, p. 1.31.
"^Capella Frenzel, Beschr. Vog. und Eyer Geg. Wittenberg, 1801, p. 58. (Type,
by monotypy, Scolopax coelestis Frenzel.)
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