MAY. 



THE TRICKS OF POACHERS. 



By H. H. S. Pearse. 



Of the many wise things written by Richard Jefferies, and in the 

 writing of which he showed how keen an observer of nature he 

 was, none contained more truth in ten words than the sentence : 

 "All poaching is founded on the habits of wild creatures." A 

 plain and simple dogmatism of that kind seems so obvious when 

 said, and yet how few of us have the gift to say it ! Nobody 

 studies animal nature more closely or patiently than the Poacher, 

 and none knows the habits of birds and beasts better. Until he 

 has acquired that knowledge he is a mere bungler at his craft. 

 For my own part, I candidly own that the first inkling of all the 

 charm which field sports have, power to exercise over me came 

 through an old Poacher, the most notorious of his class in the 

 west country, where as schoolboys we used to sit literally 

 at his feet and try to learn all that he could teach. I am not 

 even ashamed to confess that in his company I have, more than 

 once, practised the tricks of Poachers with nefarious intent. I 

 will not say where, because it is just possible that there may be 

 no statute of limitations for such offences against the law and the 

 squire. Towards the close of his life our mentor seldom 

 practised the arts he was so cunning in. Not that he had grown 



