44 WITH THE WOODLANDERS. 



word poacher ; it is not a nice name to give to 

 furred or feathered creatures, still less to men, but 

 the title has been used so long that it will never 

 be dropped now. It has become time-honoured at 

 least, for it dates from the time that the red-deer 

 were the objects of pursuit and capture. The 

 hunting instinct is strong in all Englishmen; with 

 some poachers sport is the main object; one man's 

 wits being pitted in some cases against those of 

 half-a-dozen other men, has lent some attraction to 

 the thing. In six cases out of ten it may be esti- 

 mated that the one man wins. 



I have no desire to defend the practice of poach- 

 ing in any way, far from it ; for those who rear 

 large quantities of game have to pay a very heavy 

 price for it. I have known some of the keenest 

 game -preservers of the past time, before driving 

 and other, to my mind, objectionable practices were 

 in vogue : stern men they were in all matters con- 

 cerning poaching, but they never suffered from it 

 to the extent that some do now not one quarter 

 of it ; and for this reason, their keepers were good 

 men like their masters. If they found a poacher, 

 one that they knew to be one, they never tried to 



