Game as Merchandise. 43 



purchases an estate in the country, and as naturally 

 desires to see some game upon it This necessitates 

 a keeper and his staff. Then game itself — meaning 

 live game — has become a marketable commodity, 

 bought and sold very much as one might buy a 

 standing crop of wheat. 



Owners of land, whose properties are hardly ex- 

 tensive enough to enable them to live in the state 

 which is understood by the expression ' country seat/ 

 frequently now resort to certain expedients to increase 

 their incomes. They maintain a head of game large 

 in comparison with the acreage : of course this must 

 be attended to by a resident keeper ; and they add to 

 the original mansion various attractive extra buildings 

 — i.e. a billiard-room, conservatories, and a range of 

 modern stabling. The object, of course, is to let the 

 house, the home farm, and the shooting for the 

 season ; including facilities for following the hunt. 

 The proprietor is consequently only at home in the 

 latter part of the spring and in the summer — some- 

 times not even then. 



Again, there are large properties, copyhold, or held 

 under long leases from corporate bodies, the tenants 

 having the right to shoot. Instead of exercising 

 the power themselves, they let the shooting. It con- 

 sists mainly of partridges, hares, and rabbits ; and 



