THE BLUE HARE— POACHING—HAWKING 103 



wife, hard put to it to maintain herself and her 

 children during the absence of the breadwinner in 

 some one of Her Majesty's gaols, would gladly 

 sacrifice his dog for the sake of having one mouth less 

 to feed. In this way such an one fell into my posses- 

 sion. It was a rather small, active, brindled animal, 

 built on the lines of a good greyhound — a bitch, like 

 all poachers' dogs ;, for, as the keeper is often accom- 

 panied by his retriever or night dog, a dog would be 

 likely to stand to exchange civilities, and so give the 

 keeper a chance to approach within shot ; a bitch, on 

 the other hand, will bolt at the first appearance of 

 danger, and is generally taught to make her way home 

 alone without betraying her master. Being kept con- 

 tinually in the dark, and never allowed to fraternise 

 with strangers, their senses are especially acute at 

 night, and they will rarely allow^ any stranger to 

 approach near enough to identify them. 



The usual way of working a lurcher of this kind is 

 to drive quietly along the roads in a spring-cart till a 

 likely field of seeds or pasture is reached ; at a noiseless 

 signal the dog is out of the cart and ranging the field 

 just like a wide-ranging setter. Any hare sitting or 

 feeding is found by nose, roused, and a course be- 

 gins. Meanwhile the poacher has quickly set across the 

 gateway a light silk net, easily carried in the pocket. 



