204 SHOOTING THE PARTRIDGE 
though fairly destructive not too common, and, as it 
demands more care to watch and detect, merits a 
short description. 
It is almost always practised by men employed to 
work in the fields, whether regular farm hands or 
‘casuals.’ Having observed a convenient bare place 
in a turnip field, usually in white turnips sown broad- 
cast, an ordinary rabbit-trap or gin, easily carried in 
the pocket, is set, slightly sprinkled with mould. A 
few: grains of corn are then scattered on and around 
it. All this is done while crossing the field and 
passing near the spot in the ordinary course of the 
day’s work. The trapper may then lie under the 
hedge and watch, but he need not even do this if at 
work close by ; for on a bird being caught, the snap 
of the trap and fluttering of the prisoner will cause 
the rest of the covey to rise alarmed, and give him 
warning that he has taken a prize. To saunter care- 
lessly by and put trap and bird in his pocket is very 
simple, and it can be easily reset in another part of 
the field. A good many brace are made away with in 
this manner, where the keeper does not have a watch- 
ful eye for what is going on on the land. 
Practical protection of nests from foxes and other 
vermin is strangely neglected. A single strand of 
wire about ten inches above the ground, stretched 
