144 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



he need practise concealment : his own class will hold 

 their peace. If a man is seen at his work in the 

 day, if he is moderate in his public-house attendance, 

 shows himself at church, and makes friends with the 

 resident policeman (not as a confederate, but to know 

 his beat and movements), he may go on for years 

 without detection. 



Perhaps the most promising position for a man 

 who makes a science of it is a village at the edge of a 

 range of downs, generally fringed with large woods 

 on the lower slopes. He has then ground to work 

 alternately, according to the character of the weather 

 and the changes of the moon. If the weather be wet, 

 windy, or dark from the absence of the moon, then 

 the wide open hills are safe ; while, on the other hand, 

 the woods are practically inaccessible, for a man must 

 have the eyes of a cat to see to do his work in the 

 impenetrable blackness of the plantations. So that 

 upon a bright night the judicious poacher prefers the 

 woods, because he can see his way, and avoids the 

 hills, because, having no fences to speak of, a watcher 

 may detect him a mile off. 



Meadows with double mounds and thick hedges 

 may be worked almost at any time, as one side of the 

 hedge is sure to cast a shadow, and instant cover is 

 afforded by the bushes and ditches. Such meadows 



