Snipe and Woodcock by Colin McKelvie (1996, Hardcover)

If you think that snipe hunting is a joke, and are looking for a book of folklore, look elsewhere. This book is a 217-page, thorough treatment of the natural history and hunting of these game birds in Britain and Ireland. It includes about 100 B&W illustrations, most of which are photographs or drawings of birds, dogs and hunters. The dust jacket has three beautiful, color illustrations of snipe (2) and woodcock (1).
The author is a chartered biologist living in Scotland who had studied and published about snipe and woodcock for 25 years prior to publishing this book. The focus of the book is on hunting. There are chapters with advice about proper shotguns (double, side-by-side), gun dogs, and hunting techniques. The hunting advice, like the information provided about regional woodcock & snipe abundance and migration, is specific to Britain and Ireland. However, general information about hunting techniques and the ecology of the birds will be of interest to anyone anywhere who would like to learn more about snipe or woodcock.

The book is evenly split between coverage of snipe and woodcock. The 55 pages devoted exclusively to snipe make this an unusually rich recent source of information about this little game bird.