418 THE GAME PRESERVER^ GUIDE. 



to allow thirty brace to be killed in three or four hours. 

 All parties were in earnest in keeping poachers away, and 

 the result was as I have stated. This shows what labourers 

 can do if they like, and what they will do if it is made their 

 interest to do so. They are either a great evil or a great 

 boon to the game preserver, and he must make up his mind 

 either to have them as warm friends or bitter enemies. The 

 regular and systematic poacher is a formidable fellow, 

 opposed to all law, and making a living in the best way he 

 can. After a time nothing comes amiss to him ; and, though 

 at first he has taken to his trade from a love of sport, it has 

 ended in his adhering to it from necessity, since he cannot 

 get work when his character is known, nor can any man, 

 after poaching all night, be fit for work in the day also." 



The poaching labourer is the worst of all poachers, because 

 his attacks on the game are insidious and constant. He 

 does not, it is true, sweep a whole district in a night, but he 

 steals the eggs in the breeding season, and when the shooting 

 season begins he takes a covey quietly now and then, and 

 his hare once or twice a week. These are not so much missed, 

 and the loss therefore does not cause such an uproar as that 

 caused by an incursion of poachers from a distance. To him 

 bushing is no obstacle, because he watches the birds settle, 

 marks to a yard where they are, and then takes them even 

 if they are close to a bush. For these reasons, therefore, let 

 the poaching labourer be stopped early in his career, before 

 he becomes confirmed in his habits, and this may often be 

 done by making it his interest to abstain. A few shillings 

 and a civil word or two from master or man will often save 

 the labourer, who is hesitating on the brink of the pit which 

 leads to his own destruction, for there are few instances of 

 the confirmed poacher ending his days in a respectable 

 manner. 



THE CERTIFICATED POACHER. 



The certificated poacher is a great nuisance in some districts, 

 numbers of such gentry making a living by selling their 

 game, obtained on land over which they have no right to 

 shoot. These men can only be fined 21. and costs, if they 

 are convicted; and, keeping out of the way of the watchers, 



