268 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
they can think of short of direct appeal. For 
instance, it sounds dreadfully out of tune for a 
keeper to tell a sportsman that the birds he has 
just put up for him are ‘all just about fine young 
un’s.’ Often I have moved away to prevent the 
impression that I was waiting to be tipped, and 
perhaps have lost many a tip by so doing. I 
regard a tip as a present pure and simple, not a 
tax—a convenient medium by which a sportsman 
may prove his appreciation of the skill a keeper 
has shown in producing sport proportionate to the 
resources at his disposal. I have met several good 
sportsmen who would spare no pains to seek out 
the keeper, and, not finding him, would go to con- 
siderable trouble to leave or send him a tip. Here 
is a sample note which gave me more satisfaction 
encloses a postal 
than the enclosure: ‘Captain 
order for 7s. 6d. in appreciation of a pleasant day, 
and would be glad to know what was the total bag.’ 
I am afraid that I have long since cashed the order 
and given my wife the proceeds, or it might have 
been reproduced with the note. 
The most generous tippers are successful business 
men, stockbrokers, officers of the Services, and 
solid country magnates. There are, of course, rich 
noblemen and others who combine generosity with 
wealth, but they are not meat for the ordinary 
gamekeeper. Prosperous stockbrokers and men 
of business, who do not get too much time for 
