Editing Snipe (section)

==Hunting==
{{For|the practical joke|Snipe hunt}}
[[File:Bay Snipe, by A B Frost from Shooting Pictures, by Scribner & Sons, 1895.jpeg|thumb|alt=Painting of a kneeling hunter shooting at a group of birds flying above a marsh|Depiction of a snipe hunter, by [[A. B. Frost]]]]
[[File:Snip in water, RP-P-1999-368.jpg|thumb|''Snipe in Water'', by [[Ohara Koson]]. Japan, 1900–1930]]

Camouflage may enable snipe to remain undetected by hunters in [[marsh|marshland]].  The bird is also highly alert and startled easily, rarely staying long in the open.  If the snipe flies, hunters have difficulty wing-shooting due to the bird's erratic flight pattern.

The difficulties involved around hunting snipe gave rise to the military term ''[[sniper]]'', which originally meant an expert hunter highly skilled in [[marksmanship]] and [[camouflaging]], but later evolved to mean a [[sharpshooter]] or a shooter who makes distant shots from concealment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=sniper |title=sniper (n.) |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=7 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="Metaphors">{{cite book | last = Palmatier | first = Robert Allen | title = Speaking of Animals: A Dictionary of Animal Metaphors | date = 1995 | publisher = Greenwood Publishing | location = Westport, Connecticut | page = 357 | isbn = 0313294909 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kSr4fO2zYrIC&pg=PA357}}</ref>