98 Practical Game Preserving, 



and thick brambles, the latter fixed thin end downwards ; 

 plain stakes provided with one or two projecting nails may 

 also serve for bushing, or if placed at an angle, without nails. 

 Gamekeepers should know where their partridges nest, 

 and bush accordingly. The proper way to do this is to place 

 the bushes, fixing them, some firmly, some loosely, about 

 fifty yards apart each way, so that the bushes of one line 

 come opposite the intervals in the other. Netting partridges 

 only pays the poacher in the early part of the season, and 

 extra vigilance is therefore necessary during the two or three 

 weeks or so subsequent to the ist September. It is, however, 

 during the week previous that the largest depredations are 

 carried on, and early in the morning on the " First," when 

 shooting will go on, unless one is on the look out to 

 prevent it. 



Snaring is chiefly indulged in by labourers and ne'er-do- 

 wells. The dusting and nesting places are the most suitable 

 and most favoured spots, and the business often proves very 

 successful. Only systematic vigilance and observation on 

 the part of the keepers can prevent it, and on that alone can 

 one rely. It is a simple, but very effective style of poaching 

 and very much worked, so that no man should flatter himself 

 that his birds are not being snared. Boys can do it, as well 

 as men, and an eye should therefore be kept on everybody. 



Egg stealing is another style of poaching ; it is not 

 practised to the same extent as with pheasants, but is 

 carried on by the same class of people labourers, their 

 children, and their wives. Its prevention is simple ; never 

 purchase any partridge eggs except from recognised 

 sources ; do not allow people to gather " wild-flowers " 



