80 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



the making of " scholards." He himself had 

 only enough learning drubbed into him to allow 

 him to make every night an entry of his day's 

 work so many bavins, so many bundles of pea- 

 sticks, so many fencing-poles. His daily earnings 

 fluctuate with the quality of the wood, which 

 he is sure to declare is nothing like what it was 

 in the days of his youth. 



It is the keeper's lot to make the best of many a 

 bad job. If he could have his way, all underwood 



would be chopped and stacked in neat piles 

 Choice by the middle of April, so that his nesting 

 Places birds might enjoy undisturbed peace in his 



woods. In olden days, all underwood was 

 cut, worked up, and cleared off the ground by certain 

 fixed dates so that the new shoots of the shorn stumps 

 had full measure of light and air. But the dates are 

 no longer remembered, and the work is carried on 

 into early summer. The birds benefit in some ways. 

 Pheasants find the long rows of felled underwood 

 very attractive as nesting-places, and many pairs 

 of partridges decide to give them a trial. Pheasants 

 and partridges prefer to nest in dead material it is 

 warmer and drier than greenstuff, does not hold 

 dew or rain, and cannot grow, and so possibly upset 

 the nest. Dry leaves are driven by the wind beneath 

 the rows of wood, so nesting material is plentiful. 



