116 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



to put himself at once in communication with 

 rural rascality, and to set about stealing the 

 pheasants. Very likely the man from London 

 employs the rural and local thieyes to steal the 

 2)heasantSj promising to pay the fines for them if 

 they are caught ; but I have kno^^i strangers to set 

 about the act. In that case, however, it is generally 

 when the Avoods are small, and, from some adjacent 

 road, the London thieves can first see how the land 

 lies, and get acquainted with the position of affairs. 

 If there happens to be a gamekeeper a fre- 

 quenter of public-houses, the plan adopted is to 

 get the fool fond of beer drinking, and to ph' 

 him well with liquor, making him safe for a 

 given time. If the woods are small and w^ell- 

 stocked with pheasants, and of the shape which 

 best suits the thieves — that is, narrow, but of a 

 certain length — in the course of an hour, or an 

 hour and a half, a large booty may be caught 

 and carried away. Suppose the cover to be long 

 enough, as well as narrow, for two beats, the 

 poachers go to the middle of it, and set it across 

 in every run Avitli wires, with a knot on them to 

 prevent their drawing tight enough to strangle 

 a bird, and with '' purse nets," made of silk or 



