298 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 



A white or pied pheasant is a joy to a keeper ; it 

 is not merely a thing of interest and beauty, but a 

 means by which the behaviour of the other pheasants 

 can be judged. When a conspicuous pheasant 

 strays far and wide, but returns to the home wood, 

 then the keeper knows that the rest of his wander- 

 ing birds return. Experience leads me to believe 

 that a special appeal is not always the best way of 

 saving a white pheasant on shooting-days. Rooks 

 have a decided liking for a white pheasant chick on 

 the rearing -field. An employer who suffers from 

 chronic anti-rabbit fever scarcely can be considered 

 a joy, and is apt to get on his keeper's nerves. 

 Once I became so saturated with a decree that 

 every rabbit should die that I forgot myself when I 

 was loading at a shooting-party. I was looking for 

 a partridge, when up jumped a rabbit, and I bowled 

 him over before the eyes of the whole party a 

 gross breach of etiquette. 



I do not suppose many people have seen a mole 

 in the act of gathering material for its nest. I was 

 making my way through the stuff, and happened to 

 stop to listen to a warning ' cock-up ' of a distant 

 pheasant, when I heard a rustling quite near me. 

 I thought it must be a mouse, and waited in the 

 hope of seeing it. Another rustle, and I saw a dead 

 oak-leaf move. I sank on to my knees, and crawled 

 to the spot. Within a yard of my face I saw the 

 pinky snout of a mole ; never was more than the 



