152 Fisninc 1x AMERICAN WATERS. 
hours in a day’s fishing, where. 
by he might add a real zest in 
the way of luxurious variety to 
his every-day fare, yet I would 
second all efforts to thwart the 
poacher, who robs the streams 
of their life and beauty to sell, 
when these waters are be- 
queathed to the poor as well 
= : 
= ee as to the rich as a health-giv- 
Fe ee | = 
ACPovenuke ing blessing. 
‘* Bill Blossom was a nice young man, 
And drove the Bury coach ; 
But bad companions were his bane, 
And egged him on to poach, 
“* Once, going to his usual haunts, 
Old Cheshire laid his plots ; 
He got entrapped by legal Berks, 
And lost his life in Notts.”—Hoop. 
The poacher is an unmitigated scamp wherever found. On 
Long Island he robs the streams by night with fine silken 
nets, which he conceals in a pocket or in the crown of his hat 
(if he have one), and, knowing all the by-paths of the island 
as they meander among the net-work formed of dwarf pine 
and scrub oak, he approaches a trout stream after midnight. 
There are usually two poachers in company. They set the 
net across a narrow place in the stream, and while one at- 
tends to it, the other drives in the trout. The meshes of the 
net are so small that a two-ounce trout can not escape. Before 
daylight the peachers are back at their wretched homes, and 
those who wink at the crime purchase the fish, and send them - 
to the New York markets. The fish being in season, no ques- 
tions are asked. It is difficult to detect poachers on the isl- 
and, because proprietors of real estate and hotel-keepers are 
afraid to inform against these desperadoes, lest they should, 
in revenge, add arson to poaching. 
There is not within any settled portion of the United States 
