70 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



short barrel downwards. Unscrew the latter and load it with 

 a couple of charges of powder, and put on the cap, which you 

 should cover with some beeswax and suet mixed. Then screw 

 the short barrel into the long one. Drill a small hole through 

 the loose piece of iron about four inches from one end, and 

 put it in the barrel with a Dail or peg in the small hole, and 

 a string from the nail going down the side of the tree in the 

 direction you may choose. Mind and not have the wire so 

 low that-, a dog can let it off. When the wire is touched it 

 draws the nail, and the hammer, falling down on the barrel, 

 lets the cap off. Being' fastened up in a tree, and close to the 

 stem, it can catch the eye of no one, and merely has to be 

 shifted occasionally, though of course there is no need to do 

 this until after it has been fired. After all, nothing daunts 

 poachers so much as pitfalls made in the woods. They 

 should be about seven feet deep, and made with the sides 

 slanting, so that the chamber is larger at the bottom than at 

 the top. Unless boarded all round, the soil will fall in. The 

 opening should be four feet square, and be covered with 

 sticks and sods, or anything resembling the surrounding 

 ground. Poachers are very shy of venturing into woods 

 where you have these pit-falls." 



Alarm guns discharging wooden or other plugs upwards 

 or horizontally should never be used, as danger to human 

 life always accompanies their employment. It is almost 

 unnecessary to remark that alarm guns of various forms can 

 be purchased at any gunmaker's. 



The destruction effected in preserves during the nesting 

 season by crows, jackdaws, magpies, jays, and other egg- 

 eating birds is well known, and can only be remedied by the 

 trapping or shooting of the culprits. The question as to the 

 influence of the rook in pheasant coverts is one of those 

 respecting which there is much to be said on both sides. The 

 rook is so often regarded as a valuable ally to the agricul- 

 turist, by destroying an enormous number of grubs, wire 

 worms, &c., that its case claims attentive consideration. 



