Dartmoor. 133 



that same shepherd's dog under similar cir- 

 cumstances. 



One rough guide, then, for the time being, 

 had to carry such game as we killed, and as (if 

 he had been left to himself) he would have been 

 sure to have shoved it into his pockets, or 

 somehow or other disposed of it about his 

 person, I invented a game-carrier, a sketch 

 of which I give. The merest tyro will of course 

 at a glance see how to use it ; but let any one 

 making one not fall into the error I once did, 

 in using a spare shoe-string (which I always 

 carried in my shooting-jacket) instead of string, 

 being short of this article ; it slipped, and we 

 lost two birds in consequence. My game- 

 stick was cheap, simple, and effective, some- 

 thing after the style of game-carriers of the 

 present ; but in the absence of such a swell 

 article, how often have I been glad to make 

 use of my own simple expedient. Any one 

 can make it, and the materials necessary are a 

 hedge stake, a couple of yards of strong string, 

 and a red-hot skewer. The loop being folded 

 up and again made into a loop upon itself, so 

 as to form a double loop, as shown on the right 

 of the sketch, the birds' heads are popped in, 



