2O Poachers and Poaching. 



behind it large. When a hare or rabbit strikes, 

 the impetus takes a part of the first net and its 

 contents through the larger mesh of the second, 

 and there hanging, the creature struggles until it 

 is knocked on the head with a stick. Immedi- 

 ately the nets are set two men and a couple of 

 lurchers begin to range the ground in front- 

 slowly and patiently, gradually driving every 

 feeding thing woodwards. A third man quietly 

 paces the sward behind the nets, killing what- 

 ever game strikes them. And in this way hun- 

 dreds of rabbits may be, and are, taken in a single 

 night. Some years ago half-a-dozen young rab- 

 bits appeared in our meadow-lot which were of 

 the ordinary grey with large white patches. 

 Whilst feeding these stood out conspicuously 

 from the rest ; they were religiously preserved. 

 Of these parti-coloured ones a normal number 

 is now kept up, and as poachers rarely discrimi- 

 nate, whenever they disappear, it \s primd facie 

 evidence that night work is going on. 



Of all poaching that of pheasants is the most 

 beset with difficulty ; and the pheasant poacher 

 is usually a desperate character. Many methods 

 can be successfully employed, and the pheasant 

 is rather a stupid bird. Its one great character- 

 istic is that of wandering, and this cannot be 

 prevented. Although fed daily, and with the 

 daintiest food, the birds, singly or in pairs, may 

 frequently be seen far from the home covers. 



