Often a keeper must give judgment as to who is entitled to the reward
for a nest found and protected by two or three men. It would be easy
if the spirit of justice were satisfied by handing the shilling to
the man who first found the nest; or if a shilling were given to each
man; but this would make up an alarming account for nest-money. So the
keeper may give the first finder a shilling, and the others a couple
of rabbits each. It would not be policy to foster a man's interest
only in the nest which he finds himself, and is the first to find,
for a nest may need the guardianship of many workers. First it may be
found by a copser, working up underwood; he keeps an eye upon it for a
week, finishes his job, and departs. Then a hurdler comes, or perhaps
a hoop-maker, who starts work, sees the nest and guards it for awhile.
And then the nest catches the eye of a carter when he comes to fetch a
load of wood; he notes the position, lest it should come to harm under
the hoofs of his horse or the wheels of his waggon--and after his day's
work he may walk a mile or two to lay his information at the keeper's
cottage.
When three men work in the same part of a wood, one may have the luck
to find several nests, and the others may have no luck. So the men, if
good mates, arrange to pool the nest-money; but sometimes the lucky
man is avaricious. The keeper must study the vagaries of luck and
character. Some men will be spoiled by too liberal rewards; but an
extra shilling or two may be well spent if it prevents a sour man from
thinking he has been harshly treated. The keeper knows the labourer as
a man who broods much, and is slow to forgive an insult, or to forget
an injustice. And he knows it makes all the difference to his own work
if the men who labour in the woods for six months in the year are his
friends and allies. This, in turn, is no bad thing for them--many odd
jobs the keeper puts in their way when work is slack, and he puts many
rabbits into their hands to the comfort of their hearts.
* * * * *