KILLING THE TROUT'S ENEMIES 357 



by the absurdly small amount of the fine imposed by 

 the magistrates for fish-poaching. Some keepers have 

 a happy knack of impressing on the poachers the 

 policy of abstaining from visiting their particular pre- 

 serves, and these are far more useful keepers than 

 those whose only resource is to bring the poacher up 

 before the bench and get a small fine imposed. Now- 

 adays, however, I think that poaching is not nearly as 

 prevalent as it was a quarter of a century ago. 



The chief factors which have tended to decrease 

 poaching in country villages are: (i) that the standard 

 of education has been raised by modern legislation, 

 and the effect of this has been to engender a feeling 

 of disgrace at being brought up before the magis- 

 trates ; (2) that owing to his scale of living having 

 generally improved, the villager is a more self- 

 respecting man than his forbears ; and (3) that the 

 labouring classes are more abstemious and less in- 

 clined to indulge in alcoholic excess, and much of the 

 old-fashioned poaching was undertaken as a means 

 of earning money which was squandered in the 

 village inn. As time goes on all these inducements 

 to make him a better member of society are likely to 

 continue and increase, so that in a few years anything 

 like systematic poaching may be a thing of the past. 

 Many of the water-birds are dreadful poachers. 



Swans and ducks, as well as 

 Birds as poachers. moorhens and dabchicks, prey 



on the ova, alevins, and even 

 young fry. Kingfishers are deadly enemies of the 



