206 PARTRIDGES 



Wild Birds' Protection Acts with singular 

 discretion, while the poletrap was a cruel 

 and casual method of dealing with birds 

 of prey, and one by which many of our 

 rarer hawks and falcons were destroyed. 

 By its abolition, the difficulties of the 

 keeper on the moor were doubtless 

 sensibly increased, for there fowls of the 

 air are the chief enemies of game ; but on 

 the partridge manor the real danger is on 

 the ground, and such few hawks as do 

 mischief can easily be dealt with. 



There is little need to describe the 

 means of destruction by which vermin are 

 kept under. For the stoat, the unbaited 

 trap on his run ; for the hedgehog, the 

 trap also, but now baited with an egg ; 

 for the crow family in general, the doctored 

 egg ; while the hawks can be ambushed on 

 their daily rounds. 



Only the rat needs mention in this 

 regard ; here trap and gun are only 

 palliatives; the much -vaunted virus is 

 often slow in spreading the seeds of 

 disease among the colony, and careful 



