1 8 Poachers and Poaching. 



them level with the sward. But destruction by 

 this method is not sufficiently wholesale, and 

 the upturned white under parts show too plainly 

 against the green. The poacher's methods must 

 be quick, and he cannot afford to visit by day 

 traps set in the dark. When the unscrupu- 

 lous keeper finds a snare he sometimes puts 

 a leveret into it, and secretes himself. He then 

 waits, and captures the poacher " in the act." 

 As with some other methods already mentioned, 

 the trap poacher is only a casual. Ferreting is 

 silent and usually successful. In warrens, both 

 inequalities of the ground and mounds and 

 ditches afford cover for the poacher. A tangled 

 hedge bank with tunnellings and coarse herbage 

 is always a favourite spot. There are generally 

 two and often half-a-dozen holes in the same 

 burrow. Small purse nets are spread over these, 

 and the poacher prefers them loose to being 

 pegged or fixed in any way. When the nets are 

 set the ferrets are taken from the moucher's 

 capacious pockets and turned in. They do not 

 proceed immediately, but sniff the mouth of the 

 hole ; their decision is only momentary for 

 soon the tips of their tails disappear in the 

 darkness. Now, above all times, silence is 

 essential. Rabbits refuse to bolt if there is 

 noise outside. A dull thud, a rush, and a rabbit 

 goes rolling over and over entangled in the net ; 

 one close after it gets clear away. Reserve nets 



