23 



CHAP. XXXII. 



DUTIES OF A GAMEKEEPEK. 



I BELIEVE it will generally be allowed by sportsmen, that 

 it is no easy task to procure a man who is fully able to 

 discharge the multifarious duties of a head gamekeeper. 

 I fully agree with the late Mr. Daniel, in his remark that 

 " it is needful to premise that not every fellow in a short 

 jacket with half a score pockets can occup)^ this situa- 

 tion with utility to his master or credit to himself." 

 As regards his physical powers, I am of opinion that he 

 should be a man in the prime of life, of a vigorous consti- 

 tution, and master of a pair of legs that never know what 

 it is to be tired, and like the shepherds of Scotland, able 

 to bear all the rigours of winter by day and night : 

 more especially that of watching the woods, when the 

 trees are stripped of their foliage, on moonlight nights, 

 to prevent the poachers shooting the pheasants on the 

 perch.* Of course he must have some rest, but if he 

 sleeps, like a Bristol merchant, with one eye open, so 



* I adopted the Norfolli plan for the protection of my pheasants : I 

 got three or four dozen of wooden ones made and painted, and pegged 

 them dow-n to a branch of a tree. These we found sometimes well 

 peppered with shot, which gave the alarm, and annoyed the poacher 

 exceedingly. 



