Quidditch Through the Ages

Snidgets are tiny, quick birds. Now a protected species, Snidgets used to be common birds across Northern Europe. Because they were so fast and such excellent hiders, Snidgets were basically undetected by Muggles in spite of their large population. In the medieval wizarding world, wizards hunted Snidgets by hand and with nets and wands. These birds were considered very valuable, and hunters received a lot of gold for catching them. Unfortunately, catching these birds usually meant killing them, and Whisp laments how people hunted these “peace-loving little birds” (25) for sport.

In the 13th century, the Chief of the Wizarding Council brought a live Snidget to a Quidditch game and challenged players to catch it to win 150 galleons of prize money. Though some felt this was cruel to the bird, many spectators loved it, and it soon became a part of the game. When the Snidget was caught and killed, the game was over.

Over 100 years later, the Snidget had become endangered, and Wizard Council Chief Elfrida Clagg made the bird a protected species. With this new ban on Snidgets in Quidditch, metal worker Bowman Wright created a walnut-sized metal ball that could be charmed to mimic the movements of a Snidget.