Sleight -of- Hand Poaching. 1 5 5 



The 'mouchers' sneak about the hedgerows on 

 Sundays with lurcher dogs, and snap up a rabbit or a 

 hare ; they do not do much damage except near 

 great towns, where they are very numerous. Shep- 

 herds, also, occasionally mouch — their dogs being 

 sometimes very expert ; and ploughmen set wires in 

 the gateways or gaps where they have noticed the 

 track of a hare, but it is only for their own eating, and 

 is not of much consequence in comparison with the 

 work of the real local professional. These regular 

 hands form a class which are probably more numerous 

 now than ever ; the reasons are — first, the high value 

 of game and the immense demand for it since poultry 

 has become so dear, and, secondly, the ease of trans- 

 mission now that railways spread into the most out- 

 lying districts and carry baskets or parcels swiftly out 

 of reach. Poaching, in fact, well followed, is a lucra- 

 tive business. 



Some occasional poaching is done with no aid but 

 the hand, especially in severe weather, which makes 

 all wild animals ' dummel,' in provincial phrase — i.e. 

 stupid, slow to move. Even the hare is sometimes 

 caught by hand as he crouches in his form. It 

 requires a practised eye, that knows precisely where 

 to look among the grass, to detect him hidden in the 

 bunch under the dead, dry bennets. An inexperi- 



