198 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 



recommend a division of the functions of the head- 

 keeper. There should be a partridge-keeper and a 

 pheasant-keeper, each with his staff under him, and 

 entirely independent of the other. In all probability 

 it would be found that the partridge-keeper would 

 require the larger staff of the two, since all small 

 spinneys and copses, and even small outlying woods, 

 would come under his supervision ; the attentions 

 of the pheasant-keeper being confined to the two or 

 three main coverts where pheasants are to be reared. 

 This is a system I have advocated for years past, and 

 since beginning this work I have heard that it has 

 been adopted in two or three places with very satis- 

 factory results. 



To arrive at the proper point of good relations 

 with the farmers and labourers, it is necessary that a 

 keeper should be always about in the fields, and, 

 besides having an exact knowledge of the routine of 

 the farm work and in what field the labourers are 

 employed on any particular day, he must also have 

 the opportunity of making friends with them, of in- 

 spiring them with a desire to help him in his vocation, 

 of studying their interests and individualities and 

 reporting them to his master, and of watching and 

 checking any instance of dishonesty or poaching that 

 may occur among them. 



