POACHING PARTRIDGES 77 



sary suspicion, so that in the event of an operation 

 proving unsuccessful it may be repeated. 



When the game is over and the birds have been 

 stowed away in a bag, great caution is still necessary, 

 as it is quite impossible to say when or where a 

 member of the county constabulary may appear in 

 evidence. Extreme prudence is second nature to a 

 professional poacher. He is never in a hurry to dis- 

 pose of the spoil. Often the results of a successful 

 evening are stowed away in some thick cover, where 

 nobody would think of looking for them, and the 

 poacher returns home empty-handed, looking the very 

 embodiment of innocence. The ruses by which 

 poachers evade detection are legionary. Sometimes 

 one of the gang walks on in front of his mates, un- 

 hampered by any compromising impedimenta. Should 



^P 

 any suspicious circumstances intervene, the poacher 



whistles the call-note of a golden plover, or some 

 other wild bird ; if that hint fails he strikes a fusee, 

 nominally to light his pipe, but in reality as a secret 

 signal to his companions. 



Assuming that the operations of an evening have 

 met with successful issue, the fraternity have still 

 to dispose of their booty. This is effected by an 

 arrangement with a game-dealer at a distance, or 

 through the agency of some local carrier ; the latter 



