PLOVERS' EGGS. 163 



ing a preserve the dogs stray and bring back something 

 eatable, why, it is very easy to stow it under the seat with 

 the potatoes. Sometimes a man is bold enough to carry 

 a gun in this way — to jump out when he sees a chance 

 and have a shot, and back and off before any one knows 

 exactly what is going on. 



Somehow there always seems to be a market for game 

 out of season : it is * passed ' somewhere, just as thieves 

 pass stolen jewellery. So also fish, even when manifestly 

 unfit for table, in the midst of spawning time, commands 

 a ready sale if overlooked by the authorities. It is curious 

 that people can be found to purchase fish in such a con- 

 dition ; but it is certain that they do. In the spring, 

 when one would think bird and beast might be permitted 

 a breathing space, the poacher is as busy as ever after 

 eggs. Pheasant and partridge eggs are largely bought 

 and sold in the most nefarious manner. It is suspected 

 that some of the less respectable breeders who rear game 

 birds like poultry for sale, are not too particular of whom 

 they purchase eggs ; and, as we have before observed, 

 certain keepers are to blame in this matter also. 



Plovers' eggs, again, are an article of commerce in the 

 spring ; they are* protected now by law, but it is to be 

 feared that the enactment is to a great extent a dead 

 letter. The eggs of the peewit, or lapwing, as the bird is 

 variously called, are sought for with great perseverance, 

 and accounted delicacies. These birds frequent commons 



