128 The Confessions of a ^Poacher. 



at any time, and in so many different ways. 

 They are abundant, too, and always find a 

 ready market. The penalties attached to rabbit 

 poaching are less than those of game, and the 

 conies need not be followed into closely 

 preserved coverts. The extermination of the 

 rabbit will be contemporaneous with that of 

 the lurcher and poacher two institutions of 

 village life which date back to the time of the 

 New Forest. Of the many mouching modes 

 for taking conies, ferretting, as already stated, 

 and field netting are the most common. Traps 

 with steel jaws are sometimes set in runs, 

 inserted in the turf so as to bring them 

 flush with the sward. But destruction by this 

 method is not sufficiently wholesale, and the 

 upturned white under-parts of the rabbit's fur 

 show too plainly against the green. The 

 poacher's methods must be quick, and he can- 

 not afford to visit by day traps set in the dark. 

 The night must cover all his doings. When 

 the unscrupulous keeper finds a snare he some- 

 times puts a leveret into it, and secretes himself. 

 Then he waits, and captures the poacher " in 



