EASES. 257 



and, so that he may leave no scent of hand 

 nor print of foot, always approaches these 

 laterally. 



The Poacher looks out on the darkening 

 night from his cottage, and when the time 

 is favourable starts, striking right across the 

 land. Frequented roads or by-paths he avoids. 

 In a likely hedgerow he sets a couple of 

 snares, not more than a yard apart; and if 

 the field to be ranged holds a hare, he knows 

 that it will take one of them. A dog is then 

 sent to range the field, and the poacher has 

 arranged that the wind shall blow from the 

 dog across the hare's seat. This at once alarms 

 her, and she comes lopping towards the fence. 

 Something must be added to her speed, how- 

 ever, to make the wire effective, and this 

 the dog supplies by closing in. Behind his 

 snares the moucher, with hands on knees and 

 still as death, waits for her coming. There is 

 a rustle in the leaves, a faint squeal ; and the 

 wire has tightened round her throat. 



At gaps and gates a wide net is substituted 

 for the snare, and often proves an engine of 

 more wholesale destruction. These are the two 

 common methods employed by the poacher. 



