[2][3] 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.

[4] 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.

Its outer tail feathers are narrow and stiffened, which is a modification enabling the distinctive roaring sound of the nocturnal hakawai aerial display.

[6] Walter Oliver, in his book "New Zealand Birds" (1955), states, "The Snares Island snipe is distinguished by the under surface being barred all over which is not the case with any other subspecies.

[6] Its favoured habitat is the moist floor beneath Olearia and Brachyglottis forest, with a ground layer of grass tussocks, sedges, mat-forming herbs and Polystichum vestitum shield ferns.

[5] Edgar Stead reported on a visit to the Snares in December 1947 by saying of the snipe: "When flushed in the daytime it runs for a few feet then stands still silently regarding the intruder.

[5][6] The snipe feed on a variety of small invertebrates, including annelids, amphipods, spiders and insects, obtained by probing with their long bills in the soil and leaf litter.