40 t^ACT AGAINST FICTION. 



the farmer; and if lie wishes to join in the 

 sport, and has not a gun of his own^ I lend 

 him one for tliat occasion^ and thus all parties 

 have ever been contented. 



As res2)ects the labourers on the farnij and 

 the nests of pheasants and partridges, my system 

 is this : if they iind a nest, and show it to my 

 keepers (the nest is not disturbed, if not too 

 close upon any public footway or road), and 

 when hatched safely off, the farm-labourer who 

 found it receives a shilling ; and if I am 2)leased 

 with the general conduct of the labourers on the 

 farm, I often make a present at Christmas to 

 tlie foreman, for the benefit of all the hands 

 employed. There is one thing, however, which 

 my readers, if in possession of a manor, must 

 guard against, and it is this, that, after a bird 

 has hatched, if the shells of the eggs are left in 

 the nest, it is possible that the eggs of some other 

 known nest may be stolon, and tlic shells of the 

 one that has been hatched put in the place of 

 the stolen ones, so as to get another shilling. 

 The shells should, therefore, (duxiijs he destroyed 

 by the keeper, to prevent this dishonesty. 



It is also a rule with me^ supposing some 



