Snipe are medium sized, skulking wading birds with short legs and long straight bills. There are around 25 species, including the common snipe (Gallinago gallinago). The Common snipe is the longest-billed of all snipes, best identified by broad white stripe at base of underwing. It likes water and mud. With their long bills, they dig in the ground for worms and small crustaceans. The snipe's bill can be opened only at the tip, so that food can be picked up and swallowed without the bird having to remove its bill from the mud – part of an arrangement known as rhynchokinesis. In this way the Snipe’s bill tip can pinch a worm or insect larva in situ, and the long tongue can then transport the food item up towards the mouth. The male Common Snipe performs "winnowing" displays during courtship, circling high then diving, producing a distinctive sound as the air flows over specially modified tail feathers. They are also called fantail snipe which comes from the way they spread their tail feathers when falling out of the sky. It breeds extensively across northern Europe and Asia, and then winters in parts of Europe, North Africa, and across southern Asia. It prefers marshes, wetlands, flooded fields, and moist grasslands.
