Field and Covert Poachers. 243 



moors in autumn. It therefore happens that 

 even the bright red fur of the fox may be seen 

 on the keeper's gibbet. 



Hedgehogs are taken in steel traps baited with 

 a pheasant's or a hen's egg. At times squirrels 

 are killed in hundreds, but they do not grace 

 the larder, neither do the spiny hedgehogs. 

 Squirrels bark young trees, especially ash-stoles 

 and holly. 



Occasionally a creature more rare than the 

 rest adorns the larder. The old keepers remem- 

 ber a white-tailed eagle and a great snowy owl. 

 Sometimes a peregrine is shot, and more rarely, 

 in autumn, a hobby or a goshawk. A miscel- 

 laneous row on the vermin rails comprises moles, 

 weasels, and cats. The mole is libelled by being 

 placed there ; he is a destroyer of many creatures 

 which are injurious to land. Domestic cats soon 

 revert to a semi-wild ' state when once they take 

 to the woods, and are terribly destructive in the 

 coverts. They destroy pheasants, partridges, 

 leverets, and rabbits. The life of these wild 

 tabbies is wild indeed. Every dormant instinct 

 is aroused ; each movement becomes character- 

 istically feline ; and when these creatures revert 

 to life in the woods it is impossible to reclaim 

 them. Climatic influences work remarkable 

 changes upon the fur, causing it to grow longer 

 and thicker ; and the cats take up their abode 



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