1 82 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



Consequently, when a dog once begins to trespass, it is 

 pretty sure to disappear for good — it is not necessary to 

 indicate how — and though no actual evidence can be got 

 against the keeper, he is accused of the destruction of the 

 ugly, ill-bred ' pet.' If a dog commences to hunt on his 

 own account he can only be broken off the habit by the 

 utmost severity ; and so it sometimes happens that other 

 dogs besides those of the cottagers come to an untimely 

 end by shot and gin. 



The keeper, being a man with some true sense of sport, 

 dislikes shooting dogs, though compelled to do so occa- 

 sionally ; he never fires at his own, and candidly admits 

 that he hates to see a sportsman give way to anger in that 

 manner. The custom of ' peppering ' with shot a dog for 

 disobedience or wildness, which was once very common in 

 the field, has however gone a great deal into disuse. 



Shepherds, who often have to visit their flocks in the 

 night — as at this season of the year, while lambing i^ in 

 progress — ^who, in fact, sometimes sleep in the fields in a 

 little wooden house on wheels built for the purpose, are 

 strongly suspected of tampering with the hares scampering 

 over the turnips by moonlight. At harvest -time many 

 strange men come into the district for the extra wages of 

 reaping. They rarely take lodgings — which, indeed, they 

 might find some difficulty in obtaining — but in the warm 

 summer weather sleep in the outhouses and sheds, with the 

 permission of the owner. Others camp in the open in the 



