294 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



to the bag. And a tip is supposed to represent 

 his appreciation of the day's sport. I was present, 

 in the capacity of loader, at a shoot at which three 

 hundred pheasants were bagged. The birds (hand- 

 reared) were beaten to the centres of some pretty 

 coverts. Scores ran across the rides almost between 

 one's legs, and the rest just flopped up and down. 

 There was much exultation at the finish. I was 

 asked how I would enjoy a day like that, and 

 answered, ' Not much as a beater, and still less 

 as a gun.' 



Nesting was the work which I enjoyed most 

 of all. The townsman meeting a keeper strolling 

 about in search of eggs on a May morning may 

 be excused his envy of the keeper's lot. If all 

 his days were as the sweetest of May, with the 

 birds always singing, the pheasants crowing their 

 challenge, the turtle-doves and wood-pigeons cooing, 

 the rich carpets of flowers spreading incense, and 

 those olive eggs in plenty to be found fair indeed 

 would be the keeper's lot. But those calm days 

 when life is so good are not best for the safety 

 of eggs, which then are seen easier than in the 

 dull days of blustering wind and restless herbage. 

 Keepers speak of the hunt for eggs as 'nesting' 

 or ' egging,' and more often of ' looking ' than of 

 searching a hedgerow or covert. Nests are not 

 found by mere searching, but by a gift of knowing 

 intuitively where and how to look ; nor does one 



