POACHING 155 



night those which are blocked from those which are 

 open, will place on the wall immediately above the 

 open ones a loose stone, a stick, or a piece of turf to 

 mark them. A keeper on going his rounds, therefore, 

 should be on the look out for such objects, and when 

 found should carefully shift them over the closed holes, 

 and so defeat the object in view. To counteract the 

 use of ' gate-nets,' it is not a bad plan for a keeper 

 to use some himself for a few nights, and after catching 

 several hares liberate them immediately. This will 

 cause the hares to fight shy of gates, and quit the fields 

 in some other way. Another effective plan is to paint 

 the lower bars of the gates white, and the hares will 

 then avoid them. 



The raiders who come in gangs armed with guns 

 and shoot the best coverts, generally selecting 

 pheasants at roost, are usually colliers, miners, or the 

 scum of manufacturing towns, led by some ruffian who 

 has a knowledge of the ground. These gangs display 

 no skill, but rely on their numbers, arms, and known 

 desperation of character to save them from arrest, as 

 unfortunately it very often does. 



The ' mouchers ' who sneak about the roads and 

 hedgerows with dogs on Sundays, and snap up a rabbit 

 or a hare, do not do so much damage except in the 

 neighbourhood of large towns, where they are more 



