Picked from the Prairie Province 249 



dodging flight was merely a peculiarity, and not 

 what many writers have claimed, i.e. a crafty scheme 

 on the bird's part to baffle the gun. In the brave 

 days of old when such small birds were deemed not 

 worth pursuit by our meat-hunting ancestors, the 

 snipe dodged as he does to-day. Then such a 

 thing as a firearm had not been dreamed of, yet the 

 bent-winged dodger scaped and twisted, which 

 proves that whatever the cause of the peculiar 

 flight, it was not to baffle the aim of a gunner, or 

 even a man using any form of sporting appliance. 

 Before the invention of gunpowder, game was 

 trapped, and the larger kinds slain with the bow 

 and arrow, some form of crossbow, or by spear, or 

 other contrivance, held or hurled by the hand. A 

 wee fellow like the snipe had naught to fear, except, 

 possibly, some form of trap or net, so there was 

 nothing to foster the development of the dodging 

 flight. Nor does it seem reasonable to suppose 

 the quick spring and twisting movements were 

 intended to confuse some furred or feathered foe, 

 because several other birds, more or less closely 

 related to the snipe, haunted the same ground and 

 were exposed to the same perils, yet their descend- 

 ants of to-day show no trace of the alleged artifice. 

 We all are keen observers and ardent admirers of 

 our beautiful game creatures, but we place no faith 

 in those too common writings in which some dreamy 

 but only half-informed pen-jugglers cause the lower 

 creatures to reason and converse like human beings 

 and equal the brain-efforts of highly intelligent 

 men. 



The snipe dodges because he is built that way, 



