1 74 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



with all his experience and care the gamekeeper is 

 frequently outwitted. 



The relations between the agricultural labourers 

 and the keeper are not of the most cordial character ; 

 in fact, there is a ceaseless distrust upon the one hand 

 and incessant attempts at over-reaching upon the 

 other. The ploughmen, the carters, shepherds, and 

 •foggers have so many opportunities as they go about 

 the fields, and they never miss the chance of a good 

 dinner or half-a-crown when presented to them. 

 Higher wages have not in the slightest degree dimin- 

 ished poaching, regular or occasional ; on the con- 

 trary, from whatever cause, there is good reason to 

 believe it on the increase. If a labourer crossing a 

 field sees a hare or rabbit crouching in his form, what 

 is to prevent him from thrusting his prong like a 

 spear suddenly through the animal and pinning him 

 to the turf? There are plenty of ways of hiding dead 

 game, under straw or hay, in the thick beds of nettles 

 which usually spring up outside or at the back of a 

 cowshed. 



Why does the keeper take such a benevolent 

 interest in the progress of spade-husbandry, as 

 exemplified in allotment gardens near the village, 

 which allotments are generally in a field set apart 

 by the principal landowner for the purpose? In 



