CHAPTER IV. 



CATCHING MY FIRST POACHER. 



npRAPPING and snaring rabbits occupied 

 -^ us during the winter months, and in 

 March vermin trapping — that is, the trapping 

 of vermin other than rabbits — came on. 



Pheasants begin to nest about the twentieth 



of April, and the poachers always had pheasants' 



eggs for sale at Chesham Fair, which was on 



the twenty-first. Along now is always a hard 



time for keepers, and I often had to be up and 



out by three o'clock in the morning. I was 



about fourteen or fifteen years' old when I first 



took charge of a wood, to look after all by 



myself. Father gave me my choice as to 



which wood or plantation I preferred to take, 



