POACHERS' AND KEEPERS' WIRES 29 



to explain, without the aid of an illustration, the 

 difference between a wire set by a keeper and 

 that set by a poacher ; but if the two are compared, 

 the difference is very perceptible. Keepers twist 

 their wires far too much, as a general rule, and 

 although they present a very much neater appear- 

 ance, they are not nearly as destructive ; their 

 wires, too, are generally hand-twisted. A skilful 

 poacher never twists his wires by hand, and is 

 careful not to touch the wire more than he can 

 help during its manufacture, using for the purpose 

 of twisting the strands a weight which is attached 

 to each separate one, and by moving which the 

 necessary degree of twist is imparted, ever taking 

 care to make the twist as slight as possible. A 

 poacher is well aware of the value of an old wire, 

 always provided it is sound and good, preferring it 

 to a new one. The general effect of the wire 

 when set may to an inexperienced eye appear 

 clumsy, but a closer inspection will show the care 

 and skill with which it has been laid. Keepers, 

 as a rule, set wires to catch rabbits or hares for 

 their employers, whereas poachers do so for 

 themselves. On one occasion, when shooting with 

 a friend, we took up some thirty or forty rabbit- 

 wires which had been set by a poacher ; and the 

 next day my friend found a basket containing 

 upwards of forty more, all of which he gave to 

 an old man in his employ. Curiously enough, we 

 afterwards discovered that these wires had been 

 set by the grandson of the man to whom they 



