THE TRUCE ENDS 159 



usually run from their nests before the approach of 

 the noisy, whirring machines, and, if they are caught, 

 seldom suffer more than a cut leg ; whereas the scythe 

 comes upon them almost unawares, and strikes fatally. 

 Probably some influences bearing upon the migration 

 of landrails have more to do with their scarcity than 

 unnatural destruction. Hiding so closely in the grass 

 or the corn, landrails seem to have every chance of 

 long life in this country. 



The first day of August is the most important of the 

 gamekeeper's minor festivals, for the close time under 



the Wild Birds Protection Act has come to 

 Tne an end ; duck-shooting begins to be a legal 



Ends ^ not a difficult pastime, and hares, which, 



unfortunately, may be harassed all the year 

 round, can now be sold openly. The time has come 

 for the cutting of the first cornfields ; and this is ever 

 an important event to the keeper, for it allows him 

 to make a shrewd estimate of the quantity of game. 

 The opening of the duck-shooting season finds the 

 early broods of wild duck strong on the wing ; happily, 

 the old practice of shooting the immature birds is 

 dying out. In the barley-fields where the wild duck 

 resort at dusk, the cool passing of an August day 

 makes requital for the heat of noon. Sport, if an 

 object, will at least be unsullied by the modern taint 

 of wholesale slaughtering ; apart from shooting, 



