The Confessions of a 'Poacher. 31 



one of them gathered off the neighbouring 

 estates. 



When I say that I never indulged in egg 

 poaching I do not set up for being any better 

 than my neighbours. I had been forbidden to 

 do it as a lad because my father give it 

 the ugly name of thieving, and it had never 

 tempted me aside. It was tame work at best, 

 and there was none of the exhilarating fascin- 

 ation about it that I found in going after the 

 game birds themselves. 



