226 RED DEER. 



and in these holes place wires with loops 

 to draw up, and hold the pheasant. As the 

 pheasant passes under the creep he puts his 

 neck in the noose, and draws it so that he 

 is caught. The wires are muzzled, so that 

 the bird shall not be strangled. If the loop 

 was left to draw up tightly without a check, 

 the pheasant, pulling against the noose, would 

 hang himself, and be soon dead. But as a 

 pheasant sells best alive the poachers do 

 not want this, and so arrange the loop that 

 it shall only draw up to a certain point, 

 sufficient to hold the bird fast, but not to 

 injure it. 



They next go round to one end of the 

 copse the wired " creeps " being in the 

 centre and proceed to drive the pheasants 

 towards the wires by tapping two pieces of 

 stick together, or a couple of stones. At 

 this sound the pheasants begin to run away 

 from it along their accustomed paths. Too 



