THE ORTHODOX THING 187 



and, to some extent, dissociated from the idea of 

 doing injury, in which it had originated. It seemed, 

 in fact, to be rather an end in itself, than a means to 

 an end. Another and very noticeable point, which 

 helped to lead me to this view, was that, except in 

 this way, which, as I have said, was mostly ineffective, 

 the birds seemed to have no idea of doing each other 

 harm. Often they would be side by side, or the beak 

 of the one almost touching the back or shoulder of 

 the other. Yet in this close contiguity, where the 

 one bird was often in a position very favourable, 

 as it seemed, for a non-specialised attack, no such 

 attack was ever made ; on the contrary, to go by 

 appearances, one might have thought them both 

 actuated by a quite friendly spirit. After about 

 half-an-hour's conflict of this description, these 

 snipes flew much nearer to me, so that I could see 

 them even more distinctly than I had done before. 

 I thought, now, that I saw a perplexed, almost a 

 foolish, look on the part of both of them, as though 

 they had forgotten what, exactly, was the object which 

 had brought them into such close proximity ; and 

 then, each seeming to remember that to jump and 

 flap the wings was the orthodox thing to do, they 

 both did it, in a random and purposeless sort of way, 

 as though merely to save the situation. This was the 

 last jump made, and then the affaire appeared to 

 end by the parties to it forgetting what it was about, 

 or why there had been one. My idea is that such 

 oblivion may prevail, at times, during the actual 

 combat, which becomes, then, a mere set figure, an 

 irrational dance or display, into which it might, by 

 degrees, wholly pass. 



