AND TRICKS OF KEEPERS. 265 



very honest men by their employers, are yet so much 

 the contrary, that they will take every opportunity 

 to destroy game, when not under the immediate ob- 

 servation of their master. For instance a game- 

 keeper is in a covert : he fires his gun, and pockets a 

 pheasant or a partridge, or kills a hare and conceals 

 it: his master, who is perhaps not out of hearing 

 of the gun, comes up and says " John, what did 



you shoot at?" "A d d hawk, sir," replies the 



trusty guardian of the preserves. " Did you kill it, 

 John?" "Oh, no, sir, he was too far off; but I'm 

 sure I properly peppered him." " Where is he 

 now ?" " Lord bless you, sir, he 's been out of sight 

 these five minutes !" 



Be very cautious whom you trust with fowling- 

 pieces ; they are not so often required, as keepers 

 would -wish to persuade you they are ; and do not 

 be led away with the mistaken notion, that it will be 

 a protection to your game to have a dozen fellows 

 running about with guns in their hands. It may be 

 asked, How then are the various kinds of vermin to 

 be destroyed ? To which I would answer, that, if 

 a keeper cannot effect this by means of traps, gins, 

 poison, and the various other artifices, he is by no 

 means qualified for his place. And, with regard to 

 hawks and other mischievous birds, these underlings 

 have only to keep a sharp look out, in the breeding 

 season, to find their nests, and then take the head 

 keeper, or some one proper to be trusted with a gun, 

 to shoot them. 



