New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-24
ENGLISH KEEPERS.
VARIED DUTIES IN FIELD AND WOOD
FAITHFULLY PERFORMED BY
MEMBERS OF THE
CRAFT
From The Spectator.

pursuits On the border line of sport are being
revived DecoyneI1 swanherds rabbiters war
| reners. lako keepers, marshmen. net fishermen
| for private estuarics, water bailiffs, trout and
| salmon rearers, greyhound walkers, trainers OF
| field dogs, each year adds to the staff employed
| on our estates Besides these are the battaIionS
! of grouse keepers and moor watchers, and fur
Their north still that sterling body of men from
whom Lord Lovat has recruited regiment Of
| scouts, the stalkers and giIItes of the Scotch
! deer forests. The latter specialists OF a
marked kind: the deCoymen, but most of
! the others become handy men at anything
! from rough carpentry to poultry rearing. The
| writer recently sDent a dav with one of the
| craft whose preserve embraced a partridge
manor pheasant covers, broad and marsh.
| In addition to looking after the first and rearing
| his pheasants, he gathered and sold the eggs of
| large cutlery on the broad looked after the
| nests of eleven kinds of ducks and wdfovI on
| the edges of the broad and in the marsh. and
| managed the fishing, which had reputation to
| be maintained for big pike and monstrOus eelS.
| Modern feeling for wild life has added to the
| interest of the keepers vocation. even if it has
made it more difficult to succeed in. Nearly all
the great prOprietors desire to see the larger or
! rarer wild birds preserved their estates.
/ Consequently the keeper has almost as much 70
/ do to protect the nest of some welcome visitor
| in the shape of a buzzard or kite osprey or
marsh barrier as he formerly had TO keep his
| wild pheasants eggs from being stolen The
| writer once a very characteristic piece of
/ caution exercised by a Highland keeper in
| matter of this kind. His employers eldest son
/ wrote to ask him where the eagles. Of hch
! there We're a number in the forest, usually
| nested. The answer, after much careful and
| CeremOniOuS decentralization at the beginning Of
! the letter. that they ''nested in places far
/ from human habtatious," a phrase which ne
was supposed to have heard from the minister.
! but the employment of which convinced the in
! quirer that unless he personally took him out
/ TO the hill he would be no nearer knowing the
! nesting place Of those eagles than If pens and
! ink were not invented.
1t is pleasant to note the change Of feeling.
| due to education, and the wishes of their en-
| ployers on the subject of wild bird preserva-
! ton, especially that of the larger hawks and
/ owls, among keepers generally. Many Of them
1 keep regular notebooks. in which they set down
/ the appearance or numbers of rare birds the
! waters in the woods they have to protect.
| They have in consequence become good field
naturalists, distinguishing much that is interest
| ing in the habits and habitat OF many birds and
natural history columns of The Field and even
! of more scientific papers. More often they know
much and say little. One Of the best and pleas
ATTEST members Of the craft whom the writer
I ever knew could not read a book write his
/ name, but he knew not only every pheasants
nest on the property, but all the rare birds TO be
/ found on it, and where they were nesting, and
where TO find all the rarer flowers. Before the
/ young phedsantS hatch. Wnen the anxious time
! begins. the keepers daily life and duties
many estates are singuiarIy pleasant. Early in
( the morning walk around the lake to see if the
/ offers are doing mischief among the pike and
need to be moved on" elsewhere; then walk
around the edges of the covers and sorse and
/ brambe patches to find any pheasantS'
I nests by the tracks the hen birds leave in the
dew. and 10 pick up these first eggs to rear
under the hens. After breakfast walk in the
marshes or on the stony fields to get plovers'
eggs for the house. and the rest Of the day rab-
| bit ca tChinS near the edges of the young wheat
I fields, and getting the cOops in order for the
/ young pheasauts later But the business is
/ in sense such as any not cOutented 10 be
a hard working wage Garner would care 10 I'M
dertake. a gentleman help" would find keepers
work very much less pleasant than farming in
/ New-Zealard or South Africa. and with not the
! slightest chance of making high wages or
competence. however modest. 1t is agreed BILE
form of country house service, with spells OF
hard and anxious work, not entry into any
/ form of business. 4 clever keeper might. per
haps set up a game farm later. but rule he
does not; and. though could point at least
/ one instance IN which the Of a Scotch
keeper English estate became estate
agents. solicitors merchants and civil servants,
and all attained excellent positions. once
gamekeeper always 4 gamekeeper is tn gem
eral rule. Apart from the increasing hardness
Of the work. the place is attractive and gives the
man very good position in rural life. But the
employer now looks on the keeper not mere
watcher of game and maintainer of the privacy
} of his property. Re is an agent who eXpeuds
large sums Of money, and is expected to secure
. a proper return. Up till the end Of April every
pheasants egg is worth a shilling, costs il.
Bills for meal. eggs coops and pens are heavy.
In the Old days. when the lord of a manor
farmed at least part Of his land, the proportion
ate increase and returns from all kinds Of live
stock were known, and if the respective herds"
I wards viIteins in charge failed TO maintain
+ the known average they were longer
piOyed by the