170 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



wires ; and where the grass is tall to discover these is often 

 a tedious task, since he may go within a few yards and 

 yet pass them. The ditches and the great bramble-bushes 

 are carefully scanned, because in these the poacher often 

 conceals his gun, nets, or game, even when not under 

 immediate apprehension of capture. The reason is that 

 his cottage may perhaps be suddenly searched : if not by 

 authority, the policeman on some pretext or other may 

 unexpectedly lift the latch or peer into the outhouses, and 

 feathers and fur are apt to betray their presence in the 

 most unexpected manner. One single feather, one single 

 fluffy little piece of fur overlooked, is enough to ruin him, 

 for these are things of which it is impossible to give an 

 acceptable explanation. 



In dry weather the poacher often hides his implements ; 

 especially is this the case after a more than usually venture- 

 some foray, when he knows that his house is tolerably 

 certain to be overhauled and all his motions watched. A 

 hollow tree is a common resource the pollard willow 

 generally becomes hollow in its old age and with a piece 

 of the decaying ' touchwood ' or a strip of dead bark his 

 tools are ingeniously covered up. Under the eaves of sheds 

 and outhouses the sparrows make holes by pulling out the 

 thatch, and roost in these sheltered places in severe weather, 

 warmly protected from the frost ; other small birds, as 

 wrens and tomtits, do the same ; and the poacher avails 

 himself of these holes to hide his wires. 



