186 THE GAMEKEEPER AT HOME. 



along, such as the jack is accustomed to see, and he there- 

 fore feels no alarm. By degrees the loop comes closer to 

 the fish, till with steady hand the poacher slips it over the 

 head, past the long vicious jaws and gills, past the first 

 fins, and pauses when it has reached a place corresponding 

 to about one-third of the length of the fish, reckoning from 

 the head. That end of the jack is heavier than the other, 

 and the ' lines ' of the body are there nearly straight. 

 Thus the poacher gets a firm hold for a fish, of course, 

 is slippery and a good balance. If the operation is per- 

 formed gently the jack will remain quite still, though the 

 wire rubs against his side : silence and stillness have such 

 a power over all living creatures. The poacher now clears 

 his arm and, with a sudden jerk, lifts the fish right out of 

 the stream and lands him on the sward. 



So sharp is the grasp of the wire that it frequently 

 cuts its way through the scales, leaving a mark plainly 

 visible when the jack is offered for sale. The suddenness 

 and violence of the compression seem to disperse the 

 muscular forces, and the fish appears dead for the moment. 

 Very often, indeed, it really is killed by the jerk. This 

 happens when the loop either has not passed far enough 

 along the body or has slipped and seized the creature just 

 at the gills. It then garottes the fish. If, on the other 

 hand, the wire has been passed too far towards the tail, it 

 slips off that way, the jack falling back into the water 

 with a broad white band where the wire has scraped the 



