Watching Labourers. 1 69 



bread and a slice of bacon — kept on the bread with a 

 small thumb-piece of crust, and carved with a pocket- 

 knife — are apt to ramble round the hedges, of course 

 with the most innocent of motives, admiring the beau- 

 ties of nature. Slowly wandering like this, they cast 

 a sidelong glance at their wire, set up in a ' drock ' 

 — i. e. a bridge over a ditch formed of a broad flat 

 stone — which chances to be a favourite highway of 

 the rabbits. Nowadays, in this age of draining, short 

 barrel drains of brick or large glazed pipes are often 

 let through thick banks ; these are dry for weeks to- 

 gether, and hares slip through them. A wire or trap 

 set here is quite out of ordinary observation ; and the 

 keeper, who knows that he cannot examine every 

 inch of ground, simplifies the process by quietly noting 

 the movements of the men. As he passes and re- 

 passes a field where they are at work day after day, 

 and understands agricultural labour, he is aware that 

 they have no necessity to visit hedgerows and mounds 

 a hundred yards distant, and should he see anything 

 of that kind the circle of his suspicions gradually nar- 

 rows till he hits the exact spot and person. 



The gateways and gaps receive careful attention 

 — unusual footmarks in the mud are looked for. 

 Sometimes he detects a trace of fur or feathers, or a 

 bloodstain on the spars or rails, where a load of rab- 



