snipe

A snipe is any of about 26 wading bird species in three genera in the family Scolopacidae. They are distinguished by a very long, slender bill, eyes placed high on the head, and cryptic/camouflaging plumage. The snipes in the genus Gallinago have a nearly worldwide distribution, the Lymnocryptes snipes are restricted to Asia and Europe, and the snipes in the genus Coenocorypha are now found only in the outlying islands of New Zealand. The genus Lymnocryptes is more closely related to woodcocks (Scolopax) than it is to other snipes; with woodcocks included, the four genera form a monophyletic group within the wider family Scolopacidae. The three species of painted-snipes are not closely related to the typical snipes, and are placed in their own family, the Rostratulidae.

==Behaviour== A snipe searches for invertebrates in the mud with a "sewing-machine" action of its long bill. The sensitivity of the bill is caused by filaments belonging to the fifth pair of nerves, which run almost to the tip and open immediately under the soft cuticle in a series of cells; this adaptation gives this portion of the surface of the premaxillaries a honeycomb-like appearance, and with these filaments, the bird can sense its food in the mud without seeing it. A similar adaptation is found in sandpipers.