The Snares snipe (Coenocorypha huegeli), also known as the Snares Island snipe, or tutukiwi in Māori, is a species of bird in the sandpiper family, Scolopacidae. Taxonomy and etymology The Snares Island snipe is one of a group of birds of sometimes disputed relationships in the genus Coenocorypha. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Subantarctic snipe (Coenocorypha aucklandica), but has since been elevated to a full species. The taxon was first described by the Reverend Henry Baker Tristram as Gallinago huegeli, with the specific epithet honouring British and Austrian naturalist Anatole von Hügel who collected it. The Māori name, “tutukiwi”, which may be applied to other Coenocorypha snipes as well, alludes to the bird's fancied resemblance in appearance and behaviour to a miniature kiwi. Description The snipe is a small, chunky and cryptically patterned wader with bars, stripes and spots in shades of brown ranging from buffy-white to nearly black, with longitudinal stripes on the face and crown. It has a long bill, with a short neck and tail. The outer tail feathers are narrow and stiffened, a modification to produce the distinctive roaring sound of the nocturnal “hakawai” aerial display. The sexes of the snipe are similar in appearance, though females are slightly larger than the males with weights of about 116 g compared with the males’ 101g, and with bills around 57 mm in length compared with 55 mm. Compared with males, the females have olive rather than yellow coloured legs, and with mottling on the inner edges of the primary coverts rather than having no such markings. The males also have more strongly contrasting dorsal markings. Juveniles are duller in colouration. In sexing the snipe, researchers on the Snares have found that, although no single character is diagnostic, in combination they allow most birds to be assigned to age and sex classes. Walter Oliver, in his New Zealand Birds (1955), says “The Snares Island snipe is distinguished by the under surface being barred all over which is not the case with any other subspecies. The general colour also is more reddish than in the others.” Distribution and habitat The snipe is endemic to the Snares Islands, a small subantarctic island group, with a total surface area of 3.5 km 2, some 200 km south of New Zealand in the Southern Ocean. There it breeds on North East and Broughton Islands, and has been