POA CHERS. 



77 



The keeper should make himself acquainted 

 with those whose avocations keep them near the 

 water, and, without becoming their boon com- 

 panion, gain their confidence so as to obtain 

 any information they can give. From this 

 information he must be able to sift what is 

 authentic and likely to be of use after dis- 

 carding what is unreliable, and worse than 

 useless. As before remarked, he should keep 

 on friendly terms with the floaters, drowners, or 

 whatever the men regulating the hatches in the 

 water meadows are called, so as to get due 

 notice of prospective alteration of the water 

 supply to the meadows, and be able to frustrate 

 the efforts of the village poachers to levy toll on 

 his trout in carriers which are dried up or very 

 low. Unfortunately, some of these " floaters " 

 are inveterate poachers and the most difficult 

 to catch, since nothing short of the most direct 

 evidence of their being seen in the very act of 

 poaching would be sufficient to convict. Their 

 daily and hourly duties would satisfactorily 

 account for their presence in any part of a water 

 meadow. 



Otters have, from time immemorial, been 

 ranked very high among poachers, and credited 

 with doing great harm to the trout. It is, how- 

 ever, stated on good authority that, so long as 

 there are eels, pike, and frogs in the water, 



Keepers and 

 men em- 

 ployed in 

 water 

 meadows. 



Otters. 



