302 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



A favourite story of another old friend tells how 



he found the cure for a notorious poacher. It was 



in the days before the Ground Game Act, 



The Con- an( j a farmer had complained, as well he 



verted 



Shepherd m ight> of rabbits that had cleared every 



blade of a field of oats, and were beginning 

 to attack some wheat in the next field. The keeper 

 set many traps and wires. His cottage was a long 

 way from the wheatfield : but the cottage of the 

 poacher, a shepherd, was near at hand. Knowing 

 that the shepherd would in any case keep an eye 

 on the captured rabbits, the keeper went to him, 

 and frankly invited him to remove all those caught 

 overnight, and keep them safe until he should come 

 himself in the morning. The keeper, of course, 

 could tell where a rabbit had been caught ; and no 

 doubt the shepherd knew this, for he delivered 

 up each night's catch to a rabbit. And he con- 

 fessed, at the end of a week's campaign, that the 

 confidence placed in him so unexpectedly had broken 

 his heart of its love of poaching for ever. 



* 



All keepers are shamed when sportsmen go home 



from their preserves with empty bags. To have 



in a party a shooter " who never shot 



Story ^ noth ' n ' a11 da 7 lon g " reacts on the keeper's 



fame. We noticed that a crafty keeper 



friend would always scheme to place an old colonel 



