146 WITH NATURE AND A CAMERA. 



sticks when set in position bear to that numeral 

 when written in the old-fashioned way. In encom- 

 passing the destruction of Stoats and Weasels, I 

 have always been far more successful with the flesh 

 of a Blackbird as bait than that of either a Grouse, 

 Plover, Starling, or Rabbit. 



Hedgehogs are ruthlessly slain by gamekeepers 

 on account of their mischievous habits amongst 

 the eggs and young of Partridges and Pheasants. 

 They are easily caught in figure- of -four traps. 



As an instance of the vexatious losses game- 

 keepers whose beats are near large Rookeries 

 suffer, especially in dry springs, my brother had 

 a Pheasant's nest containing seventeen eggs doubt- 

 less the production of two females shown him in 

 Mull in 1896 by a couple of gamekeepers, who were 

 naturally proud of the clutch. Happening to pass 

 the place a few days afterwards he noticed three 

 or four Rooks fly up from the nest and alight on 

 an adjoining tree. Upon examining it, he found 

 only three eggs of the seventeen remaining intact. 



I used to help a Yorkshire gamekeeper to dis- 

 sect Rooks which he shot and poisoned in the 

 spring on his moor, which in droughty weather 

 they would fly nine or ten miles to visit, and have 

 a very vivid recollection of his pardonable rage 

 when we found pieces of the shell of Grouse eggs 

 in one or two of them. 



On one occasion I watched a number of Rooks 

 pull the nearly-fledged young ones out of a Black- 

 bird's nest situated in a large hole under the top 

 " through "of a dry stone wall close to Kirkby 

 Stephen in Westmorland. 



Although Rooks are very interesting birds, I am 

 sorry to say that I regard them under certain con- 

 ditions as little less mischievous than Carrion Crows. 



