148 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



game are those made in the tails of the coat, under- 

 neath : many poachers' coats are one vast pocket 

 behind the lining. 



When there is special danger of being personally 

 overhauled and searched, or when the * bag ' is large, 

 the game is frequently hidden in a rabbit-hole, taking 

 care to fence the hole some distance inside with a 

 stout stick across it, the object of which is that if the 

 keeper or a sportsman should pass that way his dogs, 

 scenting the game, will endeavour to scratch out the 

 earth and get in after it. This the cross stick will 

 prevent, and the keeper will probably thrash his dog 

 for refusing to obey when called off. 



A great deal of poaching used to be accomplished 

 by nets, into which both partridges and pheasants 

 were driven. If skilfully alarmed — that is, not too 

 much hurried — these birds will run a long way before 

 rising, and, if their tracks are known, may be netted 

 in considerable numbers. But of recent years, since 

 pheasants especially have become so costly a luxury 

 to keep, the preserves and roosting-places have been 

 more effectually watched, and this plan has become 

 more difficult to put in practice. In fact, the local 

 man thinks twice before he puts his foot inside a 

 preserve, and, if possible, prefers to pick up outside. 

 If a preserve is broken into the birds are at once 



