1 80 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



account — but in the woods and preserves. He can 

 often give men a job in the dead of winter, when 

 farm work is scarce and the wages paid for it are 

 less ; such as hedge-cutting, mending the gaps in the 

 fences, cleaning out ditches or the watercourses 

 through the wood. 



Then there is an immense amount of ferreting to 

 be done, and there is such an instinctive love of sport 

 in every man's breast, that to assist in this work is 

 almost an ambition ; besides which, no doubt the 

 chances afforded of an occasional private ' bag ' form 

 a secret attraction. One would imagine that there 

 could be but little pleasure in crouching all day in a 

 ditch, perhaps ankle-deep in ice-cold water, with 

 flakes of snow driving in the face, and fingers numbed 

 by the biting wind as it rushes through the bare 

 hawthorn bushes, just to watch a rabbit jump out of 

 a hole into a net, and to break his neck afterwards. 

 Yet so it is ; and some men become so enamoured 

 of this slow sport as to do nothing else the winter 

 through ; and as of course their employment depends 

 entirely upon the will of the keeper, they are anxious 

 to conciliate him. 



Despite therefore of missing cur dogs and straying 

 cats which never return, the keeper is treated with 

 marked deference by the cottagers. He is, neverthe- 



