An idea is widespread among keepers, if not among employers, that they
are privileged, by virtue of their office, to kill off superfluous cock
pheasants for ten days after the end of the season. The mistake may
have arisen from the fact that licensed dealers in game may expose game
for sale for ten days after the end of the shooting season. We knew an
old keeper whose antipathy to superfluous cocks was deeply rooted: the
sight of too many cocks maddened him. By an ingenious argument he was
able to overcome his legal and conscientious scruples as to disposing
of the unnecessary game. The legal scruples troubled him more than
those of conscience; but this argument always prevailed: "It is not
lawful to take cocks killed out of season to my master's larder. But
if I should happen to have any dead ones to dispose of it would be a
sinful waste to throw them away. Therefore, it will be best if I eat
them myself."
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