68 Protection in Covert. 



there is no need to do this until after it has been fired. After 

 all, nothing daunts poachers so much as pitfalls made in the^ 

 woods. They should be about seven feet deep, and made with 

 the sides slanting, so that the chamber is larger at the bottom 

 than at the top. Unless boarded all round, the soil will fall in. 

 The opening should be four feet square, and be covered with 

 sticks and sods, or anything resembUng the surrounding 

 ground. Poachers are very shy of venturing into woods- 

 where you have these pit-falls." 



Alarm guns discharging wooden or other plugs upwards. 

 or horizontally should never be used, as danger to humark 

 life always accompanies their employment. It is almost 

 unnecessary to remark that alarm guns of various forms can 

 be purchased at any gunmaker's. 



The destruction effected in preserves during the nesting 

 season by crows, jackdaws, magpies, jays, and other egg- 

 eating birds is well known, and can only be remedied by the 

 trapping or shooting of the culprits. The question as to the 

 influence of the rook in pheasant coverts is one of those 

 respecting which there is much to be said on both sides. The 

 rook is so often regarded as a valuable ally to the agriculturist,, 

 by destroying an enormous number of grubs, wire-worms, etc.,, 

 that its case claims attentive consideration. 



I have known many cases where pheasants have sat, and 

 reared their young safely, almost immediately under a rookery. 

 On the other hand, there is no doubt but that, when pressed 

 for food or where they once acquire the habit, rooks will 

 destroy pheasants' eggs in large numbers. 



The late Colonel J. Whyte, Newtown Manor, Sligo, writes, 

 as follows respecting the rook : " There appears some doubt 

 whether rooks suck pheasants' eggs, or whether the carrioni 

 crow is not the real depredator. Perhaps what follows may 

 set the question at rest. Some years ago Lord Clonbrock 

 asked me if I had ever known rooks eat the eggs of pheasants.. 

 My idea was that they might do so occasionally, but not. 

 as a custom. His lordship rejilied : ' The rooks about me^ 



