This is a large and heavy snipe 29–32 cm long with a stocky body and relatively short legs for a wader.

Its upperparts, head and neck are streaked and patterned with bold dark brown stripes and gold edges to the feathers forming lines down its back.

The Madagascar snipe breeds in marshes, swamps, muddy areas, flooded fields and sometimes ricefields.

The Madagascar snipe forages by pushing its long bill deep into the mud seeking invertebrates, such as insects and worms, seeds and plants.

If alarmed, it freezes, and its cryptic plumage provides effective camouflage when the bird stands motionless amongst marsh vegetation.