142 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



are, so far . as they are concerned, unanswerable. 

 They say "We are poor men hired expressly to pre- 

 serve game for those who love the sport of shooting, 

 and as game and vermin don't thrive together we 

 are obliged to look after the survival of the most 

 profitable." 



" I have no particular ill-will towards the birds 

 you name," said one old fellow, " but is it likely 

 that I can allow my own sentiment, or that of other 

 folks whom I do not even know, to rob my wife 

 and children of their bread-and-butter ? " 



Another said: "Now, look here, sir, people talk 

 a lot of nonsense about the innocence of the Kestrel, 

 which is really as bad a hawk as flies. I have 

 known one keep on harrying my young Pheasants 

 until he had carried off twenty-four, which would 

 have been worth something like a pound a-piece to 

 my 'guv'nor' if they had lived to be shot at. He 

 was so artful that I could never get within shot of 

 him. I have seen the rascal stoop and pick up a 

 chick, and when I have fired my gun off drop it 

 again from fear. In some cases the little creature 

 would run back to its foster-mother in a coop, ap- 

 parently none the worse for the adventure, but 

 in others the bird would die from its injuries." 



Other keepers have told us similar woeful tales 

 about the Kestrel's depredations. It is shot as it 

 leaves its nest, and occasionally trapped. 



One day, whilst walking alongside a dry wall 

 dividing a newly -planted copse from some grazing 

 land in the Highlands of Scotland, we noticed a 

 hummock of freshly-piled stones which excited our 

 curiosity. Upon examining it, we discovered a 

 vermin trap and the hind leg of a Mountain Hare 

 inside it. On repassing the same place an hour or 

 two afterwards, we were much amused by a young 



