CHAPTER II. 



POACHERS AND POACHING. II. 



THE confines of a large estate constitute a 

 poacher's paradise ; for although partridge and 

 grouse require land suited to their taste, rabbits 

 and pheasants are common to all preserved 

 ground. Since the reclamation of much wild 

 land these latter afford his chief spoil. And 

 then rabbits may be taken at any time of the 

 year and in so many different ways. They are 

 abundant, too, and always find a ready market. 

 The penalties attached to rabbit poaching are. 

 less than those of game, and the vermin need 

 not be followed into closely preserved coverts. 

 The extermination of the rabbit will be con- 

 temporaneous with that of the lurcher and 

 poacher two institutions of English village life 

 which date back to the planting the New Forest. 

 Of the many modes of taking the " coney," 

 ferreting and field-netting are the most common. 

 Traps with steel jaws are sometimes set in their 

 runs, and are inserted in the turf so as to bring 



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