64 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARE 



to think lightly of family duties, takes him into bad 

 company, and frequently leaves him a dipsomaniac. 

 But so long as game-dealers are allowed to buy 

 poached hares and other game without inquiry as 

 to how the game was obtained, so long the crime of 

 poaching is sure to flourish. Our legislation is more 

 to blame than the much-abused poacher. If we 

 made poaching unprofitable, it would be given up by 

 the majority of rascals who at present exist by stealing 

 game. AVhether the suppression of poaching would 

 be an unmixed advantage is open to doubt. I am 

 afraid that, if the poacher ceased from troubling the 

 hares, he would be forced to earn his living by other 

 dubious practices. A working-man can rarely obtain 

 employment if his character is bad. But this is 

 somewhat of a digression from the subject. 



The most primitive form of killing a hare, or any 

 other small quadruped, is to fell it with a stone, a clod 

 of earth, or such other missile as may happen to be 

 within reach. The savage finds by experience that it 

 is best to use a weapon upon which he is sure he can 

 rely. It may be very crude in form, rudely fashioned 

 withal ; but if he knows its exact weight, and how to 

 throw it, depend upon it he will give a good account 

 of its use. I have not come across any present-day 

 poachers who habitually use a throw-stick, though 



