THE KNOWING BEATER 275 



who has been in his present place for forty odd years, 

 told us that he can always remember his last day's 

 shooting with muzzle-loaders, because they bagged 

 the same number of hares as pheasants 218 to say 

 nothing of 324 rabbits. They must have performed 

 some wonderful feats of loading as well as shooting. 



At covert shoots beaters often behave in unaccount- 

 able ways ; but it is not every day a beater is seen 



crawling about on hands and knees. A 

 The guest at a covert shoot, surprised at such a 



Beater sight, inquired about the beater's object. 



" Beg pardon, sir ; I thought as 'ow you was 

 the guv'ner," said the beater, rising. A further ques- 

 tion as to why the guv'ner should be met on all fours 

 brought this answer : " Well, you see, sir, 'tis this 

 way like the guv'ner, 'e don't allow no game to git 

 up 'igh, not if 'e can anyways 'elp it. Not 'e, for 'e 

 wops it into any birds as rises 'ardly afore they be got 

 on their wings like. So you see, sir, soon as I thinks 

 I be gittin' dangerous near 'im, I allus reckons to be a 

 bit careful." 



The shepherd and the gamekeeper are men in sym- 

 pathy, for one is dependent to some extent on the other. 

 In the eyes of the keeper, the shepherd is one of the 

 most important persons on a farm. And where there 

 is not a good understanding between the two men the 



