POACHING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 



The word fauconnier, Anglicfe falconer, is based upon 

 the title of thefaucon which that dependant carried 

 on his wrist. But while the meaning of the term 

 fauconnier remains unaltered, that of braconnier has 

 changed. Originally it was an honourable term, but 

 the lad left in charge of the dogs so often hunted 

 game on his own account, that his usual title became 

 recognised as the sobriquet of the rascal whom our 

 German friends frankly call the wilddieb — i.e. the game- 

 thief. After all it does not very much matter what we 

 call the poacher ; his existence is an undoubted evil, 

 about which there can be no difference of opinion. 



Charles Diguet, a well-known authority upon 

 French sport, thinks that poachers should be divided 

 into two classes, represented respectively by the men 

 who use the gun and those who use snares. The 

 gunning poacher watches at the corner of the woods 

 at dawn or shortly before nightfall, in the hopes of 

 intercepting a stray roe or perhaps a plump brown 

 hare. Diguet maintains that the poacher who uses a 

 gun is a less troublesome ruffian than the man who 

 sets snares ; he bases his opinion on his experience 

 that the poacher who does his deadly work with a 

 firearm seldom kills more than one head of game at 

 a time, and that he is more easily detected than the 

 poacher who works silently. I fancy that the majority 



