GAME-BIRDS AND MOTORS 125 



than the one delayed no doubt soon after the stoat's 

 teeth bit home in the tender neck. 



We have seen a motor-car drive right over a covey 

 of young partridges as they dusted themselves on a 



road, leaving half a dozen victims behind 

 Game- it. But motors are not entirely opposed 

 Motors to game interests. The dust they scatter 



on roadside hedges greatly helps the hiding 

 of precious nests. Then the frequent passing of 

 cars along country roads is certainly a deterrent 

 to the poacher ; the shooting man in his car takes 

 note of doubtful-looking tramps and gipsies, and 

 can spread a swift warning to keepers or police. 

 Even the smells of the car are a disguised blessing, 

 overpowering the scent of the sitting bird, and so, 

 no doubt, often preventing a dog from finding a 

 roadside nest. The motor has sent up the value of 

 many inaccessible shooting properties by eliminating 

 distance. It may be useful to a shooting party when 

 cartridges have come to an end, or at the close of a 

 day for transporting game speedily to the station, 

 or at any time for bringing a doctor when the bag has 

 been enriched by the addition of a gamekeeper. 



On a midsummer night, in an old wood, the crooning 

 of the nightjar, with its whirring, vibrant, monoto- 

 nous notes, now rising, now falling in key, seems 



