1 70 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



bits or game has been hung for a few minutes while 

 the bearer rested. The rabbit-holes in the banks are 

 noted : this becomes so much a matter of habit as to 

 be done almost unconsciously and without effort as he 

 walks ; and anything unusual — as the sand much dis- 

 turbed, the imprint of a boot, the bushes broken or 

 cut away for convenience of setting a net — is seen in 

 an instant. If there be any high ground — woods are 

 often on a slope — the keeper has here a post whence 

 to obtain a comprehensive survey, and he makes 

 frequent use of this natural observatory, concealing 

 himself behind a tree trunk. 



The lanes and roads and public footpaths that 

 cross the estate near the preserves are a constant 

 source of uneasiness. Many fields are traversed by a 

 perfect network of footpaths, half of which are of very 

 little use but cannot be closed. Nothing causes so 

 much ill-will in rural districts as the attempt to 

 divert or shut up a track like this. Cottagers are 

 most tenacious of these 'rights/ and will rarely 

 exchange them for any advantage. 'There always 

 wur a path athwert thuck mead in the ould volk's 

 time ■ is their one reply endlessly reiterated ; and the 

 owner of the property, rather than make himself un- 

 popular, desists from persuasion. The danger to 

 game from these paths arises from the impossibility 



