BOG-WASHING DAYS 



overcome the scent of his birds. He sprinkles the 

 neighbourhood of all the nests he can find with some 

 strong-smelling fluid. But the foulest or strongest 

 scent will not save a bird when a fox has once seen her. 

 Fortunately he is not clever enough to know a new 

 trap from an old one, nor a sound from a broken one, 

 and the keeper finds at nesting-time a good use for 

 his disused traps, placing them about birds sitting in 

 dangerous spots. Anything in the shape of scrap- 

 iron the fox suspects ; anything unusual about a 

 nest, such as a piece of newspaper on a bush near by, 

 will arouse his fears, and possibly save a bird's life. 

 But as rooks learn to treat scarecrows with con- 

 tempt, so foxes learn to have no fear for harmless 

 terrors, and the keeper rings the changes on all the 

 fox-alarming devices which experience and ingenuity 

 can suggest. 



Two or tree times a year, the gamekeeper gives all 



his dogs a grand washing ; and his methods should 



be marked by other dog -owners, for there 



?" . are few who understand dogs better. He 



Washing 



Days knows that a dog s coat, like a woman s 



hair, is spoiled by too much washing, which 

 destroys the satiny gloss imparted by the natural 

 oils. He knows, too, that a dip in a pond or a splash 

 in a stream only wets the surface of a coat, and 

 does not cleanse the skin. His method is thorough, 

 and designed not only to cleanse the hair and skin, 



