The Confessions of a T'oacher. 47 



help in the silent trade. Then there is the 

 rise and wane of the moon, the rain-bringing 

 tides, and the shifting of the birds with the 

 seasons. These and a hundred other things 

 must be kept in an unwritten calendar, and 

 only the poacher can keep it. Speaking from 

 hard experience, his out-door life will make 

 him quick ; will endow him with much ready 

 animal ingenuity. He will take in an immense 

 amount of knowledge of the life of the fields 

 and woods ; and it is this teaching which will 

 ultimately give him accuracy of eye and judg- 

 ment sufficient to interpret what he sees aright. 

 To succeed the poacher must be a specialist. 

 It is better if he directs his attention to " fur," 

 or to " feather " alone ; but it is terribly hard 

 to resist going in for both. There is less 

 scope for field ingenuity in taking game birds ; 

 but at the same time there is always the proba- 

 bility of more wholesale destruction. This 

 arises from the fact of the birds being gre- 

 garious. Both grouse and partridge go in 

 coveys, and pheasants are found in the com- 

 pany of their own kind. Partridges roost on 



