Receivers of Game. 153 



villages. If a man comes along at an exceptionally 

 <early hour with coat pockets violently bulging, there 

 is a prima facie case for searching him. One advan- 

 tage of wiring or netting over the gun is here very 

 :noticeable : anything shot bleeds and stains the 

 pocket — a suspicious sign even when empty ; strangu- 

 lation leaves no traces. 



Without a knowledge of the policeman's beat and 

 the keeper's post the poacher can do nothing on a 

 large scale. He has, however, no great trouble in 

 ascertaining these things ; the labourers who do not 

 themselves poach sympathise warmly and whisper 

 information. There is reason to think that men 

 sometimes get drunk, or sufficiently so to simulate 

 intoxication very successfully, with the express 

 purpose of being out all night with a good excuse, 

 and so discovering the policeman's ambuscade. 

 Finding a man whom he knows to be usually sober 

 overtaken with drink in a lonely road, where he 

 injures none but himself, the policeman good- 

 naturedly leads him home with a caution only. 



The receivers of game are many and various. 

 The low beer-shop keepers are known to purchase 

 large quantities. Sometimes a local pork-butcher in 

 a small way buys and transmits it, having facilities 

 for sending hampers, &c, unsuspected. Sometimes 



