2 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



up by which he receives, in addition to wages, 

 many recompenses in kind, while his slender pay is 



fortified by the tips of the sportsman to 

 P uisites wnom ne ministers. This system has bred 



in him a kind of obsequiousness he is de- 

 pendent to a great extent on charity. With a liberal 

 employer he may be well off, and all manner of good 

 things may come his way ; but with a mean employer 

 the perquisites of his position may be few and far 

 between. 



At the best, he may live in a comfortable cottage, 

 rent free. His coal is supplied to him without cost, 

 and wood from the estate. Milk is drawn freely from 

 the farm or he may have free pasturage for a cow 

 of his own. A new suit of clothes is presented to 

 him each year. He may keep pigs for his own use, 

 usually at his own expense, but this is a small item, 

 and even here he may be helped out by a surplus 

 of pig-food from the kitchen of the house or from the 

 farms. He has a fair chance to make money by 

 dog-breeding and exhibiting. Then there is vermin 

 and rabbit money which he earns as extra pay, and 

 useful sums may flow into his pocket from the hunt 

 funds. He may keep fowls at his employer's expense, 

 and if not solely for his own use, he has the privilege 

 of a proportion of the eggs, and a reasonable number 

 of the chickens may be roasted or boiled for his 

 own table. The estate gardeners aid him with his 

 gardening operations, and many surplus plants and 

 seeds find their way into his plot. To rabbits he 



