Old Tricks. 



225 



retain their leaves and are fringed with the dead 

 ferns. 



The poaching of the present day is carried on with 

 a few appliances only. An old-fashioned poacher 

 could employ a variety of ' engines,' but the modern 

 has scarcely any choice. There was, for instance, a 

 very effective mode of setting a wire with a springe or 

 bow. A stout stick was thrust into the ground, and 

 then bent over into an arch. When the wire was 

 thrown it instantly released the springe, which sprang 

 up and drew it fast round the neck of the hare or 

 rabbit, whose fore feet were lifted from the earth. 

 Sometimes a growing sapling was bent down for the 

 bow if it chanced to stand conveniently near a run. 

 The hare no sooner put her head into the noose than 

 she was suspended and strangled. 



I tried the springe several times for rabbits, and 

 found it answer ; but the poacher cannot use it be- 

 cause it is so conspicuous. The stick itself, rising 

 above the grass, is visible at some distance, and when 

 thrown it holds the hare or rabbit up for any one to 

 see that passes by. With a wire set in the present 

 manner the captured animal lies extended, and often 

 rolls into a furrow and is further hidden. 



The springe was probably last employed by the 

 mole-catchers. Their wooden traps were in the shape of 



Q 



