THE MANOKS.] 



SHOOTING, 



[the manors. 



has been constantly pursued ; being less par- 

 ticular as to a deer forest. 



11. His next duty will be to ascertain, to 

 the best of his ability, the number of grouse 

 on his ground, the probable prospects of sport, 

 and the number of brace which ought to be 

 killed. 



12. To cultivate a friendly alliance with the 

 tenants and shepherds, and obtain from them 

 all useful and local information. 



13. To commence trapping and destroying 

 all ground and flying vermin. 



14. To counteract and prevent poaching. 



15. To give thorough and complete instruc- 

 tions to the under-keepers, assigning to each 

 of them his particular beat and separate 

 duties, which he will personally ascertain that 

 they attend to, by being up and on his ground 

 frequently before daylight, so as to anticipate 

 and watch their movements. If a head-keeper 

 has not zeal and activity, as well as consider- 

 able intelligence, he is altogether unfit to take 

 the charge of a large moor ; but Scotch head- 

 keepers are generally superior men, and 

 thoroughly competent, in every respect, to 

 fulfil the numerous duties which devolve upon 

 them. 



16. In the month of March, previous to the 

 burning of the heather, the head-keeper will go 

 over the ground with the diflerent shepherds, 

 and arrange with them as to the portions of 

 heather which ought to be burned. If the 

 shepherds are friendly, they will not exceed 

 the limits agreed on ; but, as it frequently 

 happens, on a large moor there are small 

 tenant-farmers, who look after their sheep and 

 cattle themselves. These individuals must be 

 attended to, as they are i-ather diflicult to con- 

 trol, and will always burn to excess if not pre- 

 vented. The keeper and his staff", on these 

 particular occasions, must exert more than 

 usual vigilance. No heather can be legally 

 burned after the 10th ot April, the penalty for 

 each offence being £5. 



THE MANORS. 

 Quitting Scotland, we now come to Eng- 

 land, wliere it is much more expensive, 

 and more difficult to preserve game. This 

 •prises from there being a far greater num- 

 ber of poachers ; and from pheasants being 

 generally the principal feature in a large 

 512 



preserve, in which feeding and watching are 

 requisite at almost all seasons of the year. 

 Hares and rabbits, also, occasion an expense, 

 inasmuch as they do considerable damage ; con- 

 sequently compensation is frequently required 

 by the farmer ; and they also require protec- 

 tion from the poacher. "We are not aware 

 that partridges do any damage. The advan- 

 tages of grouse are, that they require no 

 food beyond that which the mountain pro- 

 duces ; and, moreover, three or four men will, 

 in Scotland, take care of thirty thousand acres 

 of land; whereas in Englanr^ some half-dozen 

 keepers will not, at all times, suffice to protect 

 five thousand acres of land. 



Partridges, pheasants, and hares, being the 

 principal object of a sportsman's solicitude on 

 a manor in England, let us inquire what means 

 can be most effectually adopted for their pro- 

 tection. Partridges are easily protected, it 

 being only necessary, immediately after the 

 harvest, to have all the fields, in which they 

 are likely to jug, staked with strong black- 

 thorn, driven well and firmly into the ground, 

 sufficiently close to prevent the use or a 

 net; as it is by dragging a net over the 

 surface of the land that whole coveys of 

 partridges are taken when they are jugging ; 

 so that a country is soon cleared if this 

 wholesale description of poaching is not coun- 

 teracted. 



In Suff'olk and Norfolk, some manors of four 

 or five thousand acres will permit of two thou- 

 sand brace of partridges being killed in a 

 season ; in fact, on some of the most favourite 

 soils for them, the only difficulty is to shoot 

 them sufficiently close to ensure a favourable 

 breeding season, so numerous are they, and so 

 difficult to be reduced by fair shooting. As a 

 rule, where abundance of grain is grown there 

 will be plenty of partridges. There are, how- 

 ever, exceptions ; as there are large districts 

 in which the finest crops of wheat are pro- 

 duced, where partridges are not numerous. 

 The reason is obvious ; the soil which produces 

 wheat only not being so favourable to par- 

 tridges as that which produces rye and barley. 

 In fact, such a soil as that which pervades the 

 greater parts of Suftblk, Norfolk, Cambridge- 

 shire, and Huntingdonshire, is best for par- 

 tridges ; and, we believe, there are more of 

 these birds, as well as of other game, in thesa 



