Poachers and Poaching. 



tangled. A heavy foot, with regular beat, 

 approaches along the road, and dies slowly away 

 in the distance. 



Hares love green corn stalks, and a field of 

 young wheat is at hand. A net, twelve feet by 

 six, is spread at the gate, and at a given sign the 

 dogs depart different ways. Their paths would 

 seem soon to have converged, for the night is 

 torn by a piteous cry, the road is enveloped 

 in dust, and in the midst of the confusion the 

 dogs dash over the fence. They must have 

 found their game near the middle of the field, 

 and driven the hares for there are two so hard 

 that they carried the net right before them. 

 Every struggle wraps another mesh about them, 

 and soon their screams are quieted. By a quick 

 movement the poacher wraps the long net about 

 his arm, and, taking the noiseless sward, gets 

 hastily away from the spot. These are the 

 common methods of hare-poaching. 



In March, when they are pairing, four or five may 

 often be found together in one field. Although 

 wild, they seem to lose much of their natural 

 timidity, and now the poacher reaps a rich 

 harvest. He is careful to set his nets and snares 

 on the side opposite to that from which the 

 game will come, for this reason : That hares 

 approach any place through which they are about 

 to pass in a zig-zag manner. They come on, 

 playing and frisking, stopping now and then to 



