What is "solitary snipe"

Solitary \Sol"i*ta*ry\, a. [L. solitarius, fr. solus alone: cf. F. solitaire. See Sole, a., and cf. Solitaire.]

1. Living or being by one's self; having no companion present; being without associates; single; alone; lonely.

   Those rare and solitary, these in flocks.
   --Milton.

   Hie home unto my chamber, Where thou shalt find me, sad and solitary.
   --Shak.

2. Performed, passed, or endured alone; as, a solitary journey; a solitary life.

   Satan . . . explores his solitary flight.
   --Milton.

3. Not much visited or frequented; remote from society; retired; lonely; as, a solitary residence or place.

4. Not inhabited or occupied; without signs of inhabitants or occupation; desolate; deserted; silent; still; hence, gloomy; dismal; as, the solitary desert.

   How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people.
   --Lam. i. 1.

   Let that night be solitary; let no joyful voice come therein.
   --Job iii. 7.

5. Single; individual; sole; as, a solitary instance of vengeance; a solitary example.

6. (Bot.) Not associated with others of the same kind.

   Solitary ant (Zo["o]l.), any solitary hymenopterous insect of the family Mutillid[ae]. The female of these insects is destitute of wings and has a powerful sting. The male is winged and resembles a wasp. Called also spider ant.

   Solitary bee (Zo["o]l.), any species of bee which does not form communities.

   Solitary sandpiper (Zo["o]l.), an American tattler ( Totanus solitarius).

   Solitary snipe (Zo["o]l.), the great snipe. [Prov. Eng.]

   Solitary thrush (Zo["o]l.) the starling. [Prov. Eng.]

The solitary snipe (Gallinago solitaria) is a small stocky wader. It breeds discontinuously in the mountains of eastern Asia, in eastern Russia, Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Many birds are sedentary in the high mountains, or just move downhill in hard weather, but others are migratory, wintering in northeast Iran, Pakistan, northern India and Japan. It is a vagrant to Saudi Arabia, eastern India and Hong Kong.