72 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PARTRIDGE 



swear to a partridge's egg when he saw it, and he was 

 very indignant. The chairman, however, taking a 

 pair of scissors from his pocket, deliberately cut open 

 the egg, and, producing a young dabchick, set it 

 upon the desk, observing : 'There's your partridge 

 for you ! ' to the great amusement of the court and 

 the discomfiture of the keeper. The case was, of 

 course, dismissed, the chairman recommending the 

 witness to learn his business before again practising 

 his profession. 



The poacher requires greater shrewdness than the 

 keeper, if he is to exercise his vocation with profit as 

 well as with impunity. It is his business, first and 

 foremost, to net or snare the partridges or other game 

 that he requires for the market. Success can only be 

 obtained by close attention to business. An amateur 

 would be sure to exercise his ingenuity to little 

 purpose. Even the bird-catchers who drag the downs 

 of the South Coast with ground-nets for larks in- 

 cidentally secure a few partridges in the meshes, 

 of their old-fashioned fowling engines. A scientific 

 poacher leaves as little as possible to chance. He 

 scorns the idea of shunning danger, being willing and 

 ready to run certain hazards in carrying out his 

 schemes. Before he enters upon any serious opera- 

 tion, he selects his ground and makes himself master 



