The Confessions of a 'Poacher. 39 



when all the blood had exuded the flesh re- 

 mained white and delicate. Greater delicacies 

 even than ruffs and reeves were godwits, which 

 were fatted in like manner for the table. 

 Experiments in fattening were upon one oc- 

 casion succesfully tried with a brood of grey- 

 lag geese which we discovered on the marshes. 

 :his is the species from which the domestic 

 stock is descended, we found little difficulty in 

 herding, though we were always careful to 

 house them at night, and pinioned them as the 

 time of the autumnal migration came round. 



well knew that the skeins of wild geese 

 which at this time nightly cross the sky, calling 

 as they fly, would soon have robbed us of our 

 little flock. 



In winter, snipe were always numerous on 

 the mosses, and were among the first birds to 

 be affected by severe weather. If on elevated 

 ground when the frost set in, they immediately 

 betake themselves to the lowlands, and at these 

 times we used to take them in panties made of 

 twisted horsehair. In preparing these we 

 trampled a strip of oozy ground until, in the 



