POACHING IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 97 



she would whine in a sorrowful tone ; it often hap- 

 pened that a keeper, being completely taken in, would 

 divide his lunch with the old lady, or would fumble 

 in his pocket for a few loose coins, little reckoning 

 that he bestowed these acts of charity upon the thief 

 who was stealing his game. 



By the way, an English poacher whom I sounded 

 upon this subject, confessed to me that he was in the 

 habit of aiming at the head of the pheasant which he 

 had marked at roost. The reason for this is obvious. 

 The quill feathers of the wing are dense, and repel 

 stray shots ; while if the bird is only pricked in the 

 body, it flies away, to pass the night skulking for- 

 lornly in the shelter of some ditch or beneath a 

 hedgerow. On the other hand, if the bird is missed, 

 it is sure to be too scared to perch in a tree a second 

 time during a single evening ; so that the poacher, to 

 be successful in his ill-doing, must mark his bird right 

 carefully, for if he makes a. mistake he will not 

 repair it afterwards. 



Most of the poachers who have given me their 

 confidences upon this subject believed firmly that 

 pheasants could be obtained by 'smoking' — i.e. by 

 being overpowered by the fumes of burning sulphur. 

 Good old Squire Waterton discredited this method. 

 ' I consider,' he says, ' the smoking of pheasants while 



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