I50 THE RABBIT 



CHAPTER VI 



POACHING 



In the last chapter we described the legitimate 

 employment of traps, snares, and nets for the pur- 

 pose of killing or taking rabbits. It is the illegitimate 

 use of these {inter alia) that constitutes poaching. 



It was correctly observed by the late Richard 

 Jefferies that there are three kinds of poachers : the 

 local men ; the raiders coming in gangs from a dis- 

 tance ; and the ' mouchers ' — fellows who do not 

 make precisely a profession of it, but who occasionally 

 loiter along the roads and hedges, picking up what- 

 ever they can lay hands on. Of the three, perhaps, 

 the largest amount of business is done by the local 

 men, who are often sober and apparently industrious 

 individuals working during the day at some handi- 

 craft in the village. Their great object is to avoid 

 suspicion, knowing that success will be proportionate 

 to their skill in cloaking their operations; for in a 

 small community when a man is suspected, it is 



