^ ro " se 



' KEEPERS AND KEEPERING 453 



and get some benefit out of a disastrous harvest. The landlord should deal 

 with such cases in a broad-minded spirit, his gamekeeper should be instructed 

 to assist in keeping the birds off the corn, and any old cocks that he may 

 shoot should be given to the tenant as a solatium for damage done. 



One form of poaching remains tb be mentioned, namely, the catching 

 of live birds and the stealing of eggs with a view to selling them for the 

 restocking of other ground. Catching Grouse alive is perfectly legiti- Netting 

 mate where a man nets only the birds bred upon his own moor, or on 

 a moor which he has rented for the purpose, but in some districts in stealm s- 

 the north of England, notably in Cumberland, the practice has developed into 

 an abuse. It is a well-known fact that certain small freeholders on the edge 

 of the hill land who have no Grouse of their own take a heavy toll of the 

 birds which visit their ground from neighbouring moors. 1 An example of the 

 damage done is furnished by one of the Committee's correspondents, who writes 

 as follows : " Owing to the present system of netting on small holdings, Grouse 

 preserving in Cumberland is a snare and a delusion. To give an instance my 

 moor in the neighbourhood of - , of about 3,000 acres, used to give a 

 yearly bag of about eight or nine hundred brace and was worth about 500 

 a year to let, now two or three hundred brace, all shot in the first fortnight 

 to save them from being caught in nets, with a rent of about 100 a year, 

 represents the present return." The only method of checking this evil would 

 be for purchasers to agree to boycott all sources of supply that are open to 

 suspicion. 



Egg-stealing is not a very common form of poaching ; Grouse eggs travel 

 badly, and the advantage of introducing fresh blood by the importation of 

 eggs has yet to be proved. 5 The practical difficulties also are considerable. 



1 The following passage is worth quoting : " The cause of offence may be only a tiny strip of some 

 pasture, heatherless, Grouseless, perhaps not. worth sixpence an acre for any purpose but one. Its want of 

 food and shelter may be so evident that birds seldom light on it, but they have to flv over it, and nets 

 judiciously arranged and managed will, in the course of a season, capture a very large number of them, and do 

 very great harm to the adjoining beats. 1 ' G. W. Hartley, in " Victoria History of the Counties of England, 

 Cumberland," edited by James Wilson, M.A., vol. ii. p. 439. London : Archibald Constable & Co., Ltd., 1905. 

 Vide also Fur and Feather Series, "The Grouse" pp. 76-77. 

 2 Vide chap. xxi. pp. 477-47!). 



