202 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



concerned, not with the likes and dislikes of keepers, 

 but with their duties. 



As in dealing with the question of moors, we may 

 categorically enumerate the various points that must be 

 regarded by the keeper for the proper preservation and 

 improvement of his general stock. 



(1) The supply or improvement of cover. 



(2) and (3) The careful watching and protection of 



eggs and nests and artificial rearing. 



(4) The improvement of the stock by the intro- 



duction of eggs from other districts, and the 

 importation of foreign partridges. 



(5) The destruction of vermin. 



(6) The suppression or the frustration of poachers 



and poaching. 



(7) A tactful understanding and sympathy with the 



farmers. 



(8) The killing of old cocks. 



i. Cover 



Many estates are fortunate enough to possess so 

 much well-distributed cover as to call for little innova- 

 tion of a radical nature. Some are ideal in this respect, 

 the various fields of potatoes and corn being flanked and 

 intersected by rough ground of broom ("whin") and 

 gorse, with here and there additional growths of birch, 

 juniper, and other classes of trees. How notoriously 

 this kind of cover is used by partridges can be proved 

 by the fact that on the first of September in Scotland, 



