SMALL FREEHOLDERS 271 



would certainly shoot at a pigeon if it 

 crossed his potato patch. The keeper has 

 a shrewd idea that the bird, besides being 

 one of his own rearing, was shot on the 

 squire's ground as D. E. came down the 

 path. What can he do? He cannot 

 devote his whole time to one man, nor 

 escort D. E. every time he passes through 

 the wood. Only one remedy ; drive away 

 the birds, and here, the wood beino- all 

 round the garden, a good deal more must 

 be sacrificed than in the previous case. 

 These two are authenticated cases within 

 the writer's experience. Now let me go 

 back to my premises. I maintain that the 

 existence of such a state of things is pre- 

 judicial to the community, not to speak of 

 the cost of law proceedings, the expense 

 of poachers' imprisonments, the moral de- 



