74 NATURAL HI STORY OF THE HARE 



practices of poachers can only lead to a more careful 

 supervision of their malpractices. 



(iame-dealers are at present the chief subsidisers 

 of poachers. They are obliged to buy in the 

 cheapest markets to make a living at all, and cannot 

 afford to be over curious as to how their supplies are 

 procured. The best method of suppressing poaching 

 that could be adopted would be to insist upon dealers 

 buying game from recognised purveyors, instead of 

 from the middlemen, who are in touch with the most 

 desperate poachers. Farmers sometimes unwittingly 

 assist the aims of poachers by inviting them to snare 

 rabbits on their farms, in order to save their own 

 pockets the outlay of paying a professed trapper. If 

 a poacher has obtained permission to snare rabbits on 

 a certain farm, it becomes easy for him to set snares 

 upon an adjoining property. 



If you once admit the morality of snaring, you 

 may say good-bye to the preservation of hares. I 

 know that keepers are often employed in snaring 

 ground game for the market, especially where rabbits 

 are numerous. The convenience of such an arrange- 

 ment is obvious ; but it nevertheless leads to serious 

 mischief, and makes the snariftg of game appear a 

 respectable proceeding. Farmers do mischief, both 

 by snaring hares themselves and by keeping farm 



