Snipe
the common name of the birds composing the family Scolopacidæ. There are many genuses, of which the genus Gallinago may be taken as the type. The common snipe of Europe (G. media), is about 11 inches in entire length, the bill almost 3 inches. The general color of the upper parts is a blackish-brown, finely mixed with pale-brown and a rich buff- SNORRI color; three pale-brown streaks along the head; the neck and breast pale-rust color mottled with black; the belly white. The snipe makes a nest of a little dry herbage in a depression of the ground, or sometimes in a tuft of grass or rushes. The eggs are four in number, pale-yellowish or greenish-white, the larger end spotted SNIPE with brown. This species of snipe is plentiful in all the moorv and marshy places throughout Europe, also in some parts of Asia, and it is found in the N. of Africa. The snipe is capable of being tamed. The common American snipe (G.
Wilsonii) is about equal in size to the common snipe of Europe, and much resembles it also in plumage. This species is abundant in summer in the N. parts of the United States and in Canada, in the more southern States in winter. It is much in request for the table, and is often caught in snares.