OCCASIONAL POACHING. 177 



to gather primroses in the early spring, or ferns, which 

 they hawk from door to door ; and the watercress men, 

 who are about the meadows and brooks twice a year, in 

 spring and autumn, require constant supervision. An 

 innocent-looking basket or small sack-bag of mushrooms 

 has before now, when turned upside down, been discovered 

 to contain a couple of rabbits or a fine young leveret. 

 This detective work is, in fact, never finished. There is no 

 end to the tricks and subterfuges practised, and with all his 

 experience and care the gamekeeper is frequently outwitted. 

 The relations between the agricultural labourers and 

 the keeper are not of the most cordial character ; in fact, 

 there is a ceaseless distrust upon the one hand and in- 

 cessant attempts at over-reaching upon the other. The 

 ploughmen, the carters, shepherds, and foggers, have so 

 many opportunities as they go about the fields, and they 

 never miss the chance of a good dinner or half-a-crown 

 when presented to them. Higher wages have not in the 

 slightest degree diminished poaching, regular or occasional; 

 on the contrary, from whatever cause, there is good reason 

 to believe it on the increase. If a labourer crossing a 

 field sees a hare or rabbit crouching in his form, what is 

 to prevent him from thrusting his prong like a spear 

 suddenly through the animal and pinning him to the turf ? 

 There are plenty of ways of hiding dead game, under 

 straw or hay, in the thick beds of nettles which usually 



spring up outside or at the back of a cowshed. 



N 



