28 The Confessions of a 'Poacher. 



banks of the water meadows. Being injurious 

 to the stream sides and the young larches, the 

 farmers were anxious to rid these ; and one 

 summer we received a commission to exercise 

 our knowledge of field-craft against them. But 

 in the early days our greatest successes were 

 among the sea ducks and wildfowl which 

 haunted the marram-covered flats and ooze 

 banks of an inland bay a few miles from our 

 home. Mention of our capturing the sea 

 birds brings to mind some very early rabbit 

 poaching. At dusk the rabbits used to come 

 down from the woods, and on to the sandy sa- 

 line tracts to nibble the short sea grass. As 

 twilight came we used to lie quiet among the 

 rocks and boulders, and, armed with the old 

 flint-lock, knock over the rabbits as soon as 

 they had settled to feed. But this was only 

 tasting the delights of that first experience in 

 " fur " which was to become so widely de- 

 veloped in future years. Working a duck 

 decov when we knew where we had the 



j 



decoyman was another profitable night ad- 

 venture, which sometimes produced dozens 



