62 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARE 



CHAPTER IV 



THE HARE AND HER TROD 



The art of snaring or trapping wild animals has long 

 been invested with a certain flavour of mystery. This 

 may be accounted for in two ways. In the first place, 

 it is chiefly practised among uncivilised men. In the 

 second place, the secrets of the craft are jealously 

 guarded, and handed down from one generation to 

 another. Whenever we find the snaring of wild 

 animals practised by modern Europeans, we feel 

 instinctively that we stand face to face with the 

 devices which enabled our prehistoric ancestors to 

 perpetuate the existence of the race. Here in England 

 we have to thank poachers and other natural men for 

 preserving intact the methods of the distant past. 

 The number of poachers who at present exercise their 

 wits in defying our statutes is very considerable 

 indeed. I have no means of estimating the quantity 

 of game that annually passes through the hands of 

 professional poachers, but it must be worth many 



