142 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



CHAPTER VII. 



PROFESSIONAL POACHERS. — THE ART OF WIRING 

 GAME. 



There are three kinds of poachers, the local men, 

 the raiders coming in gangs from a distance, and the 

 'mouchers' — fellows who do not make precisely a 

 profession of it, but who occasionally loiter along the 

 roads and hedges picking up whatever they can lay 

 hands on. Philologists may trace a resemblance 

 between the present provincial word ' mouching ' and 

 Shakspeare's ' mitcher/ who ate blackberries. Of the 

 three probably the largest amount of business is done 

 by the local men, on the principle that the sitting 

 gamester sweeps the board. They therefore deserve 

 first consideration. 



It is a popular belief that the village poacher is an 

 idle, hang-dog ne'er-do-well, with a spice of sneaking 

 romance in his disposition — the Bbhemian of the 

 hamlet, whose grain of genius has sprouted under dif- 

 ficulties, and produced weeds instead of wheat. This 



