AND TRICKS OF TRESPASSERS. 26? 



the day poacher, is that of taking a double gun, and an 

 old steady pointer, when travelling, and cutting out the 

 game from the farther end of the preserved fields, 

 which flank the turnpikes (as a cruiser would a flotilla 

 from under a battery) : or, if the fields are so large that 

 he might be coursed and caught, simply to draw them 

 within a short run of his carriage. A keeper, in this 

 case, would do well to gallop quietly round to some 

 likely field in advance, for which our friend would be 

 pretty sure to turn out again ; and here the keeper, by 

 hiding himself, might pop on him, with all the ne- 

 cessary articles to put an end to his progress. For 

 stopping one, who carries a gun to shoot birds feeding 

 as he travels along the road, the better way would be 

 to tie down the innkeepers, by a threat of withdrawing 

 your custom, not to allow their postboys or coachmen 

 to stop for such purposes ; and, through a fear of getting 

 in a scrape, these men would most likely contrive to 

 pass by, or frighten up the game. If you owe a greedy 

 shooter a grudge, give his dog, in hot weather, a carte 

 blanche at a large tub of buttermilk, just before he takes 

 the field. He will then have many points ; but few 

 birds. 



It would far exceed the limits of this work to insert 

 every ruse de guerre that is successfully practised, for 

 a tolerable shot to come home with a full bag. All 

 keepers and lookers out, therefore, should be constantly 

 on the alert, and made strictly acquainted with the 

 game laws, at least as far as they relate to themselves ; 

 but although this may be learnt by a little conversation 

 with almost any attorney's clerk, or a few written in- 

 structions, yet not one in ten knows how to serve a 



