POACHING PARTRIDGES 77 
sary suspicion, so that in the event of an operation 
proving unsuccessful it may be repeated. 
When the game is over and the birds have been 
stowed away in a bag, great caution is still necessary, 
as it is quite impossible to say when or where a 
member of the county constabulary may appear in 
evidence. Extreme prudence is second nature to a 
professional poacher. He is never in a hurry to dis- 
pose of the spoil. Often the results of a successful 
evening are stowed away in some thick cover, where 
nobody would think of looking for them, and the 
poacher returns home empty-handed, looking the very 
embodiment of innocence. The ruses by which 
poachers evade detection are legionary. Sometimes 
one of the gang walks on in front of his mates, un- 
hampered by any compromising impedimenta. Should 
any suspicious circumstances intervene, the poacher 
whistles the call-note of a golden plover, or some 
other wild bird ; if that hint fails he strikes a fusee, 
nominally to light his pipe, but in reality as a secret 
signal to his companions. 
Assuming that the operations of an evening have 
met with successful issue, the fraternity have still 
to dispose of their booty. This is effected by an 
arrangement with a game-dealer at a distance, or 
through the agency of some local carrier ; the latter 
