WATER POACHERS 195 



IV 



HUMAN POACHERS 



AND now, finally, we come to the man poacher. 

 Fish poaching is practised none the less for the high 

 preservation and stricter watching which is so 

 characteristic of the times. In outlying country 

 towns with salmon and trout streams in the vicinity 

 it is carried on to an almost incredible extent. 

 There are many men who live by it, and women to 

 whom it constitutes a thriving trade. These know 

 neither times nor seasons, and, like the heron and 

 kingfisher, poach the whole year round. They 

 provide the chief business of the county police-court 

 and the great source of profit to the local fish and 

 game dealer. The wary poacher never starts for 

 his fishing grounds without having first secured his 

 customer; and it is surprising with what lax code of 

 morals the provincial public will deal when the silent 

 night worker is one to the bargain. Of course 

 the public always gets cheap fish and fresh fish 

 so fresh, indeed, that the life has not yet gone out of 

 it. It is a perfectly easy matter to poach fish, and 

 the difficulty lies in conveying them into the towns 

 and villages. The poacher never knows but that he 

 may meet some county constable along the un- 

 frequented country roads, and consequently never 



