A Snipe is any of nearly 20 very similar wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They characterised by a very long slender bill and cryptic plumage. The Gallinago snipes have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes Jack Snipe is restriced to Asia and Europe and the Coenocorypha snipes are restriced to New Zealand. The three species of painted snipe are not closely related to these, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae. Snipe has number of meanings: The snipe birds; The object of a snipe hunt, which is a practical joke in which a victim is told they are going to hunt snipe (the birds) in an area where they are guaranteed not to be, and are then left there; A term... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Binomial name Gallinago gallinago Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies The Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) is a small, stocky shorebird. ... For other uses, see Scientific classification (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... For other uses, see Bird (disambiguation). ... Families Thinocoridae Pedionomidae Scolopacidae Rostratulidae Jacanidae Chionididae Burhinidae Haematopodidae Recurvirostridae Ibidorhynchidae Charadriidae Pluvianellidae Dromadidae Glareolidae Stercorariidae Rhynchopidae Laridae Sternidae Alcidae Charadriiformes is a diverse order of small to medium-large birds. ... Genera Actitis Aphriza Arenaria Bartramia Calidris Catoptrophorus Coenocorypha Eurynorhynchus Gallinago Heterosceles Limicola Limnodromus Limosa Limnocryptes Numenius Steganopus Phalaropus Philomachus Prosobonia Scolopax Tringa Tryngites Xenus The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, (known as shorebirds in North America). ... Species see text The Coenocorypha are a genus of tiny birds, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are found in the Outlying Islands of New Zealand. ... This article is about the Snipe Bird. ... Binomial name Lymnocryptes minimus (Brunnich, 1764) The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. ... Families Scolopacidae Rostratulidae Jacanidae Thinocoridae Pedionomidae Burhinidae Chionididae Pluvianellidae Ibidorhynchidae Recurvirostridae Haematopodidae Charadriidae Dunlin (Calidris alpina). ... For other uses, see Genus (disambiguation). ... The hierarchy of scientific classification In biological classification, family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. ... Genera Actitis Aphriza Arenaria Bartramia Calidris Catoptrophorus Coenocorypha Eurynorhynchus Gallinago Heterosceles Limicola Limnodromus Limosa Limnocryptes Numenius Steganopus Phalaropus Philomachus Prosobonia Scolopax Tringa Tryngites Xenus The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, (known as shorebirds in North America). ... Closeup on a single white feather A feather is one of the epidermal growths that forms the distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on a bird. ... This article is about the Snipe Bird. ... Binomial name Lymnocryptes minimus (Brunnich, 1764) The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Species see text The Coenocorypha are a genus of tiny birds, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are found in the Outlying Islands of New Zealand. ... Species Rostralata benghalensis Nycticryptes semicollaris Painted snipe are distinctive waders placed together in their own family Rostratulidae. ...

Description

Snipe in the family Scolopacidae belong either to the small genera Coenocorypha (the New Zealand snipes) and Lymnocryptes, or to the about 15 typical snipes in the genus Gallinago. The latter are the closest relatives of the woodcocks , whereas the small genera represent earlier divergences in the snipe/woodcock clade (Thomas et al., 2004). Genera Actitis Aphriza Arenaria Bartramia Calidris Catoptrophorus Coenocorypha Eurynorhynchus Gallinago Heterosceles Limicola Limnodromus Limosa Limnocryptes Numenius Steganopus Phalaropus Philomachus Prosobonia Scolopax Tringa Tryngites Xenus The Scolopacidae are a large family of waders, (known as shorebirds in North America). ... Species Eurasian Woodcock, Amami Woodcock, Bukidnon Woodcock, Dusky Woodcock, Sulawesi Woodcock, Moluccan Woodcock, American Woodcock, The woodcock are a group of seven very similar wading bird species in the genus Scolopax, characterised by a long slender bill and cryptic brown and blackish plumage. ... A clade is a term belonging to the discipline of cladistics. ...

They search for invertebrates in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of their long bills. Invertebrate is an English word that describes any animal without a spinal column. ...

Most have distinctive displays, usually given at dawn or dusk.

English manuscripts dating from the 15th century indicate that the bird was originally called a "snyte" (Austin, 1888).

Some snipe species have been hunted for food and sport since the invention of the shotgun. They can be extremely difficult targets, confounding even very skilled hunters with their erratic flight, their unexpected flushes, their excellent natural camouflage and the treacherous and difficult terrain they typically inhabit. Countershaded Ibex are almost invisible in the Israeli desert. ...

The elusive nature of the snipe is well-known among hunters. In the days of market hunting, the most skilled hunters of all would often bring many Common Snipe to market earning the nickname "sniper" as a badge of respect for the difficulty in shooting this amazing little bird. The term has evolved into the modern usage sniper, referring to a skilled anti-personnel military sharpshooter. For other uses, see Sniper (disambiguation). ...

Genera

• Coenocorypha
• Lymnocryptes
• Gallinago

Fossil bones of some undescribed Gallinago species most similar to the Great Snipe have been recovered in Late Miocene or Early Pliocene deposits (c. 5 mya) of Lee Creek Mine, USA. Species see text The Coenocorypha are a genus of tiny birds, also known as the New Zealand snipes, which are found in the Outlying Islands of New Zealand. ... Binomial name Lymnocryptes minimus (Brunnich, 1764) The Jack Snipe, Lymnocryptes minimus is a small stocky wader. ... This article is about the Snipe Bird. ... Binomial name Gallinago media (Latham, 1787) The Great Snipe, Gallinago media is a small stocky wader. ... The Miocene Epoch is a period of time that extends from about 23. ... The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts) is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5. ... For other uses of mya, see mya (disambiguation). ...

References

• McKelvie, Colin Laurie : Woodcock and Snipe: Conservation and Sport (Swan Hill, 1993)
• Thomas, Gavin H.; Wills, Matthew A. & Székely, Tamás (2004): A supertree approach to shorebird phylogeny. BMC Evol. Biol. 4: 28. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-4-28 PDF fulltext Supplementary Material
• Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888

The BMC-series of journals are a collection of 59 (at last count) online research journals published by BioMed Central. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... The Early English Text Society is an organization to reprint early English texts, especially those only available in manuscript. ...

External links

• Snipe videos on the Internet Bird Collection