156 WITH NATUBi: AM) A (J AM Kit A. 



A farmer, wln^se fiock of Geese suffered severely 

 on a Fox-infested moor in the North of En<:land, 

 ccmceived the notion tliat if lie \nnv^ a small bell 

 to the neck of his Gander its tinkliii<j;- would scare 

 the marauders away. Tlie idea answered its pur- 

 pose admirably for a Avliile, but the cunnino- thieves 

 soon came to understand that it was a harmless con- 

 trivance, and actually killed th(> bird Avearinii' the 

 noisy piece of metal. 



The Grouse poacher used to be a _i»reat thorn in 

 the side of the man of velveteen, but he is now an 

 almost vanished figure. 



I know one old man well who years ago used 

 to don a white shirt and pair of sheep-shearing 

 drawers of the same colour over his ordinary attire, 

 and on a bright moonlight night, when snow lay 

 thick u})on the ground, he would steal forth from 

 his house, Avhich stood on the edge of a nu)or, and 

 creeping quietly up to a flock of sleeping Grouse, 

 deal death amongst them by a shot from his old 

 single-barrel, directed where he saw th(> most l)irds 

 in line. 



Although the Grouse poacher of the pictures(|ue 

 old school has almost disappeared, his j)lace has 

 been taken up by a man here and there, wher(> 

 l)eculiar circumstances permit it, whos(^ methods 

 are loudly anatliematised by sportsnu>n, and espe- 

 cially by thos(! whose game he luigs. We have 

 been fortunate enough to secure an interview with 

 one of these men, and a series of pliotograi)hs of 

 liinr at Avork with his engines of destruction. 



He I'eiits a small })iece of heatlici'-clad tVceliold 

 laud, surrounded by some of the ver\' best Grouse 

 moors in the Jkitish Islands, and as soon as tli(^ 

 shooting season connnences he })laiits two thousand 

 coppc]' wii-e snares, which he calls "hanks,'' in ihe 



