24 REMIXISCENCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



much the better ; for in the poachers he has active and 

 cunning enemies to deal with, and who watch his move- 

 ments narrowly. One of the most essential qualities 

 in the character of a gamekeeper is the suaviter in 

 modo, or at all times a proper deportment and a civil 

 tongue, and he should at the same time possess a firm- 

 ness of character in the performance of his duties. 

 Civility costs nothing, but its effects amongst the 

 tenants of the estate will most likely prove of con- 

 siderable advantage in the preservation of the game, 

 for where there exists a bad feeling towards this man, 

 you may be pretty certain that some of the pheasants' 

 and partridges' nests will be destroyed, and leverets 

 when young will meet the same fate; but when the 

 gamekeeper is on good terms with the farmers, and 

 the landlord generous in giving them game, you may 

 fairly then calculate that instead of destroying they will 

 afford their aid in the preservation of the game ; but 

 'with this proviso, that the lands are not overstocked with 

 hares, pheasants, and rabbits.* 



Every gamekeeper should be able to read ; and if he 

 is a head gamekeeper, "\;\'ith two or three men under him, 

 in that case he should also be able to write. There can 

 be little doubt he would be better able to perform his 

 various duties if he had acquired, in some degree, a 

 knowledge of the habits of birds of prey and ground 

 vermin, particularly those which frequent the country 

 in which he resides; for one of the most essential duties 

 of a gamekeeper is to keep down the vermin. 



Some gentlemen allow their gamekeepers to break in 



* A tenant, by the Game Law, has a right to destroy the rabbits on 

 his farm as vermin, by setting traps for them, unless there be a clause 

 in his lease to prevent his doing so. 



