152 



Fishing in American "Waters. 



^i. POAOHEK. 



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 

 as to the rich as a health-giv- 

 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. " — Hood. 



The poacher is an unmitigated scamp wherever found. On 

 e Long Island he robs the streams by night with fine silken 

 f 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 poachers 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 difiicult 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 



