Wild Geese. 205 



best in the locality to kill. The owner of this cumbrous 

 weapon, if you exhibit an interest in its history, will 

 take you into the fields and point out a spot where 

 forty years ago he or his immediate ancestor shot four 

 or five wild geese at once, resting the barrel on the 

 branch of a tree in the hedge and sending a quarter 

 of a pound of lead whistling among the flock. The 

 spot the wild geese used to visit in the winter is still 

 remembered, though they come there no more ; drains 

 and cultivation having driven them away from that 

 southern district. In the course of the winter, 

 perhaps, a small flock may be seen at a great height 

 passing over, but they do not alight, and in some 

 years are not observed at all. 



There is a trick sometimes practised by poachers 

 which enables them to make rabbits bolt from their 

 holes without the assistance of a ferret. It is a 

 chemical substance emitting a peculiar odour, and, if 

 placed in the burrows drives the rabbits out. Chemi- 

 cal science, indeed, has been called to the aid of 

 poaching in more ways than one : fish, for instance, 

 are sometimes poisoned, or killed by an explosion of 

 dynamite. These latter practices have, however, not 

 yet come into general use, being principally employed 

 by those only who have had some experience of min- 

 ing or quarrying. 



