34 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



down, and the top lightly inserted at the edge of the 

 rabbit's run. When a rabbit then rushes into the 

 snare, the bender flies up, swinging him off his feet, 

 so that he is killed quickly. This is a poacher's 

 dodge to prevent rabbits from squealing when caught : 

 it can be practised only in an open place. There are 

 many situations where the steel trap is the only 

 means of dealing with the rabbit pest, and must be 

 used perforce until a substitute is found unless man 

 is to give way to rabbits. We do not think that any 

 gamekeeper uses steel traps for rabbits unnecessarily. 



The gamekeeper perhaps sees more of sleeping birds 

 than most people ; and makes many interesting mental 



notes of the resting habits of creatures in his 

 of Birds P woods - He observes that perch-roosting 



birds always rest with their heads to the 

 wind. If when a high wind is blowing a rook alights on 

 the home-tree, he swings his head into the wind before 

 settling. So when the wood-pigeons come home with 

 the wind behind them they pass over their roosting 

 trees, then beat up into the wind. This is done to defeat 

 the force of the wind, which might prevent the bird 

 alighting where desired, or might blow him from his 

 perch. At rest, the bird doubles the knees, as it were, 

 which causes the toes to contract, the weight of the 

 body resting chiefly on the breast and on the out- 

 spread wings not on the eggs, if in a nest. The 

 birds' legs and feet have sinews which work an auto- 



