Practical Game-Preserving. 122 



them unnecessarily and for detecting the presence of 

 vermin from a distance, such an acquisition is invaluable. 

 I think that such should form an item in the impedimenta 

 of all gamekeepers. 



Turning to the protection of pheasants from poaching, 

 the preserver is confronted at the outset of the season with 

 a variety of it for which there is no necessary reason, 

 namely, egg-stealing. If there were no buyers the prac- 

 tice would cease to exist, and although of late years, 

 through various causes, the evil has considerably declined, 

 the dishonesty of dealers, and, I regret to say it, the indis- 

 cretion to employ no harsher term of a certain class of 

 keepers, continue to encourage the practice. It will best 

 serve the purpose if I point out the means which exist for 

 the disposal of stolen eggs, because then the preserver who 

 keeps his eyes and ears open will be aware of the possi- 

 bility of a traffic existing in his property of this nature, 

 and thus be in a position to prevent it. Probably 

 in the present day the worst offenders are the owners of 

 pseudo-game-farms men who, with a few pens of phea- 

 sants, buy eggs from anyone who may offer them and then 

 re-sell to those ill-advised enough to purchase without any 

 reference or inquiry as to the standing and trustworthiness 

 of the source from which they are obtaining their supplies. 

 There is really no excuse for anything of the kind, as 

 where eggs require to be bought there are a score and 

 more of game-farms of the highest repute to which to 

 apply. The dishonest higgler is usually the medium for 

 this traffic as between the egg-stealer and the wholesale 

 buyer, and the regular appearance of gentry of this kind 

 in a district is generally a sure sign of something illegal 

 or underhanded being in progress. 



The sale and purchase of eggs as between one preserve 

 and another should always be effected by the preservers 



