64 The Amateur Poacher 



it requires but one man — is very favourable to obser- 

 vation. When the proper time arrives the searcher 

 knows within a little where the nest must be, and has 

 but a small space to beat. 



The pheasant being so large a bird, its motions are 

 easy to watch ; and the nest is speedily found, because, 

 being in the hedge or under bushes, there is a definite 

 place in which to look, instead of the broad surface 

 of the field. Pheasants will get out of the preserves in 

 the breeding season and wander into the mounds, so 

 that the space the keeper has to range is then enlarged 

 threefold. Both pheasants and partridges are fre- 

 quently killed on their nests ; when the eggs are hard 

 the birds remain to the last moment, and are often 

 knocked over. 



Besides poachers, the eggs have to run the chance 

 of being destroyed by carrion crows, and occasionally 

 by rooks. Rooks, though generally cleanly feeders, 

 will at times eat almost anything, from a mussel to a 

 fledgeling bird. Magpies and jays are accused of 

 being equally dangerous enemies of eggs and young 

 birds, and so too are snakes. Weasels, stoats, and rats 

 spare neither o.^'g, parents, nor offspring. Some of the 

 dogs that run wild will devour eggs ; and hawks 

 pounce on the brood if they see an opportunity. Owls 

 are said to do the same. The fitchew, the badger, 



