76 The Amateur Poacher 



appear on the short stubble, where the level rays 

 throw exaggerated shadows behind them. When six 

 or eight hares are thus seen near the centre of a single 

 field, they and their shadows seem to take possession 

 of and occupy it. 



Pheasants, though they retire to roost on the trees, 

 often before rising come forth into the meadows 

 adjacent to the coverts. The sward in front of the 

 pollard ash sloped upwards gradually to the foot of a 

 low hill planted with firs, and just outside these about 

 half a dozen pheasants regularly appeared in the early 

 evening. As the sun sank below the hill, and the 

 shadow of the great beeches some distance away 

 began to extend into the mead, they went back one 

 by one into the firs. There they were nearly safe, for 

 no trees give so much difficulty to the poacher. It is 

 not easy even to shoot anything inside a fir plantation 

 at night : as for the noose, it is almost impossible 

 to use it. The lowest pheasant is taken first, and 

 then the next above, like fowls perched on the rungs 

 of a ladder ; and, indeed, it is not unlikely that those 

 who excel in this kind of work base their operations 

 upon previous experiences in the hen roost. 



The wood pigeons begin to come home, and the 

 wood is filled with their hollow notes : now here, now 

 yonder, for as one ceases another takes it up. They 



