260 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



and hares should be driven out of his wood into his 

 neighbour's fields and hedgerows. But when he found 

 that his neighbour was the sort of man to shoot 

 in the wake of hounds, so that the evicted creatures 

 were given no fair chance to return to their homewood, 

 but instead were shot in the afternoon following a 

 morning visit of hounds he felt compelled to close 

 his wood to the hunt, with the natural sequence that 

 he was soon compelled to bar the covert to foxes 

 also. No shooting days in the wake of hounds 

 should be a golden rule for all neighbourly neighbours. 



Of poachers there are many types ; and the worst 

 are the organised bands that hail chiefly from colliery 

 and manufacturing districts. These men 

 are murderous ruffians, and the keeper who 

 interferes with them carries his life in his 

 hand. Wives look anxiously indeed for their hus- 

 bands' return when such a band is about. The 

 gangs chiefly practise night shooting, and pheasants 

 are their object. But they are as ready to fire at a 

 keeper as at pheasants. We were shown a single - 

 barrelled muzzle-loading gun which a keeper had 

 taken from such a poacher, who had shot a roosting 

 pheasant under his very eyes. After the shot, the 

 keeper went up to the man, who pointed the gun 

 straight at his head, threatening to fire if he 

 advanced another yard. But the keeper knew his 

 man and his gun. He knew there had been no time 



