16 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



as the pigeon came in sight, in this case on the far 

 side of a big field. 



There were a good many rats about, chiefly in 

 some barley-ricks dotted about the farm. Ferreting 

 rats in corn-ricks is always likely to prove un- 

 satisfactory, because of the difficulty of killing a 

 decent proportion of the rats and of securing the 

 ferrets. Here again I was lucky. I had two pole- 

 cat dog ferrets brothers. One of them was a capital 

 line ferret, and would hang on to rat or rabbit for 

 hours. His brother, quite useless for line work, 

 was an ideal ferret for loose work, and, curiously 

 enough, he never would stay with a rat or a rabbit, 

 nor would he often bite it. The rats I mentioned 

 just now lived for the most part in the roofs of the 

 ricks, which I would visit about twice a week with 

 the loose-working ferret and my gun. And fine 

 sport we had. He was a knowing ferret. I had 

 only to toss the old chap on to the roof of a rick, 

 and be ready for rats. He would range over the 

 thatch till he winded a rat, when he would point for 

 a moment before diving in and evicting Mr. Decu- 

 manus. By trapping at every likely spot round the 

 ricks, and in tunnels and so forth in the hedges, I 

 managed to overcome the rats. 



There were, too, many magpies, and at one 01 

 them I made the flukiest shot of my life. Though 

 I did not measure it, honestly I should think it was 

 very little short of a hundred yards. I never could 



