The snipe is a wading bird found in marshes and wet meadows. [Photo Chen Xueyang and Zhang Ling in Nanyang Daily]

A woodcock is rescued in Nanyang. [Photo Chen Xueyang and Zhang Ling in Nanyang Daily]

“A snipe and a clam quarrel benefit only a third party” is a Chinese fable, which parallels the English saying that “when shepherds quarrel, the wolf has a winning game”. However, few people have actually seen a snipe.

A peculiar-looking "long-billed bird" was found by a shop owner in Nanyang at the shop entrance on the evening of October 4, when the temperature had dropped sharply and the rain was pouring heavily.

Staff from the Nanyang forest public security bureau and the city’s zoo parkcame to the bird’s rescue. It was verified that the bird was woodcock, a kind of snipe, which is under three-tier national protection.

A snipe is a?wading?bird?of?marshes?and?wet?meadows,?with?brown?camouflaged?plumage,?a?long?straight?bill,?and?typically?a?drumming?display in?flight.

The woodcock has been listed in the “Red List of Endangered Species” of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2013. Woodcocks usually migrate southward from the northeast of China from early September to late October. The wounded woodcock found in Nanyang will be taken back for treatment by the zoo park. When it recovers, it will be released in the wild.