THE IDEAL KEEPER 17 



the contributions of Mr. Speedy, Mr. John Colquhoun, 

 Mr. Hutchinson, Mr. Bromley Davenport, Sir E. Grey, 

 Mr. Innes Shand, Mr. Lloyd Price, Mr. Harting, Mr. 

 Carnegie, and others. In fact, it is the master's duty to 

 see that his keeper is put in possession temporarily, 

 it may be of some of the more practical of these 

 writings, and to insist that advantage be taken of 

 the advice there put forward. 



Not that all the knowledge of sport is to be found 

 in the brains of the writers of books. There are skil- 

 ful arts practised by some of our best keepers that have 

 never yet been put down in black and white. There 

 are many " tricks of the trade " that are still sacred to 

 particular shootings. For sport, in its widest sense, 

 as embracing the preservation of game, is, like shooting, 

 not only a science it is an art. A man may know 

 much about law without being a great lawyer ; a 

 man may be conversant with most of the facts of 

 medical science, and yet be a poor physician. An 

 analogous remark applies to the profession of game- 

 keeping to such an extent that a keeper, like a poacher, 

 is supposed to be "born," not "made." But a belief 

 in this fact often leads to the most disastrous results. 

 The men who are thoroughly convinced in their own 

 minds that they are heaven-born keepers, are apt to 

 be conceited, opinionative, dogmatic, despotic, and im- 

 perious, " given to run riot in idolatries, drifting into 

 vanities, congregating in absurdities, planning short- 

 sightedly, plotting dementedly." They regard with dis- 



