POLICY AND PROTECTION 203 



when young. If we put ourselves for one moment 

 in the position of the youth who, full of health and 

 strength, with the eye of a hawk and the muscles of a 

 cat, and all the instincts of a hunter strong within 

 him, is compelled, day after day, to observe more 

 fortunate persons enjoying sport, or engaged in the 

 free and interesting life which is in these days 

 devoted to its preparation and protection, while he 

 ploughs the sullen earth or hoes the weeds from the 

 monotonous rows of the crop, can we wonder if he 

 leaves his appointed task at times to give play to the 

 same instincts as we ourselves have such ample means 

 of gratifying in a legitimate manner ? 



The born poacher, he with all these qualities, 

 should be encouraged to take up some form of em- 

 ployment where they will be of value, and where he 

 may be too well occupied to care any longer for 

 illicit depredations upon other people's game. If he 

 is to remain at home, he can be drafted early into 

 private service, where sooner or later his capacity will 

 prove of use to his master ; if he is so weary of village 

 monotony that he must be sent farther afield, this is the 

 man that will make a useful soldier in far-off lands, or 

 a successful colonist. This may sound Utopian, but 

 there is really no difficulty in carrying it out, unless the 

 man's poaching instincts lead him to distant places, and 



