THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
A couple of rabbits at Christmas time, and a reward for news of nests 
laid in dangerous places, or of any egging visitors, will keep the labourers 
on the side of the game preserver. The keeper also can keep on the right 
side of the tenants by being civil and obliging to all, helping to prevent 
damage done by rabbits, and repairing any gaps in fences that the beaters 
may have made when crossing the land. 
A good keeper should trap hard throughout the year ; and it is 
advisable when partridges are a special object, to have certain men 
who can give their whole time to the partridge ground, and not be lured 
away by the fatal fascinations of the pheasant -rearing field. I am inclined 
to think that each keeper of a partridge beat should be provided with 
a map, on which every nest should be marked and numbered; in addition 
to this he should note the date of laying, number of eggs, and date of 
sitting.* This will facilitate the changing of eggs from different beats or 
nests; and will enable the “chipped egg’’ system to be carried out with 
success. 
In a fox-hunting country objections have been made to this, as it is held 
by some that the path to the nest, which is necessarily made by such 
constant visits, will sooner or later be discovered by the foxes, and much 
damage may be done. 
To prevent foxes attacking sitting birds is a difficult problem. In the 
early part of the sitting the hens give out little scent, but the last day 
or so, when perhaps some of the chicks are hatched, the bird does 
not sit quite so tight, and that seems to be the most dangerous time. 
Several plans have been tried, amongst others a small flag a yard 
or so away from the nest, a few pieces of loose old iron dropped close 
to the nest, which an approaching fox would most likely suspect to be a 
trap. 
On an estate in Norfolk where foxes abound a sort of glorified cage of 
large meshed wire netting is put over each nest to protect the sitting 
bird, but all these plans have the disadvantage that, even if they are success- 
ful in scaring away a fox or marauding dog, they make known the position 
of every nest to any two-legged fox there may be about and will entail an 
enormous amount of watching. This summer, 1912, a fox took eight sitting 
birds in one night, all of which were wired in. In one case he jumped over 
the wire and got the eggs as well. 
An old keeper who was very successful with his partridge nests in a 
* Mr Alington gives an excellent example of how these maps with their accompanying memoranda may be kept. 
162 
