It is a matter of importance that the woodland rides shall be trimmed
before harvest-time, so that the woods may be sanctuaries to the
corn's evicted creatures. On many shoots this trimming is left to a
woodman; he may be responsible for all such work over a large estate
let to various tenants. As a consequence, the rides of some of the
woods are likely to remain untrimmed until just before the time of
covert-shooting, when the work will seriously disturb game. Keepers
prefer to trim the rides on their beats themselves, at such odd moments
as between the feeding of hand-reared pheasants, and with the help of
labourers who are glad enough to earn a few extra shillings during
the long evenings of July. The work in this way is done betimes, and
all the better for shooting purposes. The harvest migration of game
to the woods tells many a story to the keeper. Foxes who have spent a
happy summer entirely in the game-stocked cornfields do not come in
unnoticed. Fresh-made runs in the fences leading to the coverts tell
of the passage of stoats. Hedgehogs work their way in from the fields;
they are more numerous than most people imagine, and the keeper holds
them responsible for many a ruined game-nest.
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