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diff --git a/36970-h/36970-h.htm b/36970-h/36970-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..433659e --- /dev/null +++ b/36970-h/36970-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4501 @@ + +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> +<html lang="en"> + + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> + + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Confessions of a Poacher, edited by James Watson</title> + + <style type="text/css"> + + +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + margin: auto; + } + + hr { + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + + + .blockquot{margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;font-size: .9em;} + + .center {text-align: center;text-indent:0em;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .newpg {page-break-before: always;} + + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .caption { + font-size: .9em; + font-weight: bold; + text-align: center; + font-family: serif; + text-indent:0em; + } + + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +div.figparts1 { +float: left; +clear: left; +margin-right: .2em; +margin-left: .5em; +padding:0; +text-align: left; + +} + + +img.parts {margin:0; padding:0; display:block; border:none; } + + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:20%; + margin-right:20%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i1 { + display: block; + margin-left: 3.5em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4.2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.toctext {text-align: left;font-size:1em; display: block; padding-left: 1.8em; text-indent: -2.5em;margin-left:1em;} + + .smaller {font-size:.7em;} + .linearound { + border-width: 2px; + border-style: solid; border-color: black; margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%; + } + + +--> + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Confessions of a Poacher, by Anonymous + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Confessions of a Poacher + +Author: Anonymous + +Editor: John Watson + +Illustrator: James West + +Release Date: August 4, 2011 [EBook #36970] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONFESSIONS OF A POACHER *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Linda Hamilton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<p style="margin-left:20%;margin-right:20%;">"Poaching is one of the fine arts—how 'fine' only +the initiated know."</p> + +<a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a> + +<a name="frontispiece"></a><div class="figcenter" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:2em;padding-top:2em;"> +<img src="images/i001.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="622" height="700"> +<p class="caption">THE SQUIRE'S KEEPER.</p></div> + + + +<div class="linearound newpg"> + + +<h1 style="line-height:150%;padding-top:1em;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: .7em;">The</span><br> +Confessions<br><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: .7em;">of a</span><br>Poacher</h1> + +<div class="center" style="padding-top:1.5em;padding-bottom:.5em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;line-height:1.4;"> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: .7em;display:block;">EDITED BY<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;">JOHN WATSON, F.L.S.,<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: normal;font-size: .7em;">Author of "Nature and Woodcraft," "Sylvan Folk," &c., &c.</span> +</div> + +<div class="center" style="padding-top:1.5em;padding-bottom:.5em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;line-height:1.4;"> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: .7em;display:block;">ILLUSTRATED BY<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;">JAMES WEST.</span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/p004.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="71" height="70"></div> + +<div class="center" style="padding-top:.8em;padding-bottom:2em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;line-height:140%;"> +<span style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;display:block;">LONDON:<br></span> +<span style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;">The Leadenhall Press, 50, Leadenhall Street, E.C.<br></span> +<hr style="width: 30%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.5em;"> +<span style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;"><i>Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd:</i><br></span> +<span style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;"><i>New York: Scribner & Welford, 743 & 745, Broadway.</i><br></span> +<hr style="width: 15%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.5em;"> +<span style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;">1890.</span> +</div> +</div> + + +<a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"></a> + +<div class="figcenter newpg" style="width:700px;padding-bottom:2em;padding-top:3em;"> +<img src="images/i002.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="200" height="178"> +<p class="center" style="margin-top:.25em;"><span class="smcap">The Leadenhall Press,<br> +50, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C.</span><br>T 4,463.z</p></div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"></a> +<h2>EDITORIAL NOTE.</h2> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/p006.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="87" height="56"></div> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i012_worda.png" width="138" height="43" alt="The" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i012_wordb.png" width="81" height="38" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i012_wordc.png" width="138" height="22" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">poacher of these "Confessions" is no imaginary +being. In the following pages I have +set down nothing but what has come within +his own personal experience; and, although the little book +is full of strange inconsistencies, I cannot, knowing the man, +call them by a harder name. Nature made old "Phil" +a Poacher, but she made him a Sportsman and a +Naturalist at the same time. I never met any man +who was in closer sympathy with the wild creatures +about him; and never dog or child came within his +influence but what was permanently attracted by his +personality. Although eighty years of age there is still +some of the old erectness in his carriage; some of the +old fire in his eyes. As a young man he was handsome, +though now his features are battered out of all original +conception. His silvery hair still covers a lion-like head, +and his tanned cheeks are hard and firm. If his life has +been a lawless one he has paid heavily for his wrong doings. Great as a poacher, he must have been great +whatever he had been. In my boyhood he was the +hero whom I worshipped, and I hardly know that I +have gone back on my loyalty.</p> +<a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"></a> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"></a> +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + + + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/p004.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="71" height="70"></div> + +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="6" summary="Contents" align="center"> +<tr style="vertical-align:bottom;"> +<th colspan="2" style="text-align:left;font-weight:normal;width:90%;padding-bottom: 0em;"><span class="smaller">CHAPTER</span></th> +<th colspan="2" style="text-align:center;font-weight:normal;width:10%;padding-bottom: 0em;"><span class="smaller">PAGE</span></th> +</tr> +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;width:10%;">1. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;width:80%;"><span class="toctext smcap">The Embryo Poacher</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;width:7%;"><a href="#CHAPTER_1">7</a></td> +<td style="width:3%;"> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">2. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Under the Night</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_2">19</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">3. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Graduating in Woodcraft</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_3">32</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">4. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Partridge Poaching</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_4">45</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">5. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Hare Poaching</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_5">57</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">6. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Pheasant Poaching</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_6">74</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">7. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Salmon and Trout Poaching</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_7">90</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">8. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Grouse Poaching</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_8">109</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">9. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Rabbit Poaching</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_9">123</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> + +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">10. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Tricks</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_10">135</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +<tr style="vertical-align:top;"> +<td style="text-align:right;">11. </td> +<td style="text-align:left;"><span class="toctext smcap">Personal Encounters</span></td> +<td style="text-align:right;"><a href="#CHAPTER_11">151</a></td> +<td> </td> +</tr> +</table> + +<a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"></a> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"></a> + +<div style="padding-top:1.5em;padding-bottom:1em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;"> +<p style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.25em;display:block;" class="center">THE</p> +<p style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.25em;" class="center">CONFESSIONS OF A POACHER.</p> +</div> + + + +<a name="CHAPTER_1"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i003.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 1." title="" width="700" height="363"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">The Embryo Poacher.</h2> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i003_worda.png" width="140" height="38" alt="I do" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i003_wordb.png" width="69" height="65" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">not remember the time when I was +not a poacher; and if I may say so, I +believe our family has always had a +genius for woodcraft.</p> + +<p>I was bred on the outskirts of a sleepy +town in a good game country, and my depredations +were mostly when the Game Laws<a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"></a> +were less rigorously enforced than now. Our +home was roughly adorned in fur and feather, +and a number of gaunt lurchers always +constituted part of the family. An almost +passionate love of nature, summers of birds' +nesting, and a life spent almost wholly out of +doors constituted an admirable training for an +embryo poacher. If it is true that poets are +born, not made, it is equally so of poachers. +The successful "moucher" must be an inborn +naturalist—must have much in common with +the creatures of the fields and woods around +him.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i004.png" border="0" alt="Bird" title="" width="500" height="358"></div> + +<p>There is a miniature bird and animal fauna +which constitutes as important game to the +young poacher as any he is likely to come +across in after life. There are mice, shrews, +voles, for all of which he sets some primitive +snare and captures. The silky-coated moles +in their runs offer more serious work, and +being most successfully practised at night, +offers an additional charm. Then there are +the red-furred squirrels which hide among the +delicate leaves of the beeches and run up their<a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"></a> +grey boles—fairy things that offer an endless +subject of delight to any young savage, and +their capturing draws largely upon his inventive +genius. A happy hunting ground is furnished +by farmers who require a lad to keep the birds +from their young wheat or corn, as when their +services are required the country is all like a +garden. At this time the birds seem creatures +born of the sun, and not only are they seen in +their brightest plumage, but when indulging in +all their love frolics. By being employed by +the farmers the erstwhile poacher is brought +right into the heart of the land, and the knowledge +of woodcraft and rural life he there +acquires is never forgotten. As likely as not +a ditch runs by the side of the wheat +fields, and here the water-hen leads out +her brood. To the same spot the birds come +at noon to indulge their mid-day <i>siesta</i>, and in +the deep hole at the end of the cut a shoal of +silvery roach fall and rise towards the warm +sunlight. Or a brook, which is a tiny trout +stream, babbles on through the meadows and +pastures, and has its attractions too. A stream<a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"></a> +is always the chief artery of the land, as in it +are found the life-giving elements. All the +birds, all the plants, flock to its banks, and its +wooded sides are hushed by the subdued hum +of insects. There are tall green brackens—brackens +unfurling their fronds to the light, +and full of the atoms of beautiful summer. At +the bend of the stream is a lime, and you may +almost see its glutinous leaves unfolding to +the light. Its winged flowers are infested with +bees. It has a +dead bough almost +at the bottom +of its bole, +and upon it there +sits a grey-brown +bird. Ever and +anon it darts +for a moment, +hovers over the +stream, and then returns to its perch. A +hundred times it flutters, secures its insect +prey, and takes up its old position on the +stump. Bronze fly, bluebottle, and droning<a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"></a><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"></a><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"></a> +bee are secured alike, for all serve as food +to the loveable pied fly-catcher.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i005.png" border="0" alt="Boy Fishing" title="" width="700" height="459"></div> + +<p>It is the time of the bloom of the first June +rose; and here, by the margin of the wood, all +the ground by fast falling blossom is littered. +Every blade teems with life, and the air is instinct +with the very breath of being. Birds' +sounds are coming from over and under—from +bough and brake, and a harmonious discord is +flooded from the neighbouring copse. The +oak above my head is a murmurous haunt of +summer wings, and wood pigeons coo from +the beeches. The air is still, and summer is +on my cheek; arum, wood-sorrel, and celandine +mingle at my feet. The starlings are +half buried in the fresh green grass, their +metallic plumage flashing in the sun. Cattle +are lazily lying dotted over the meadows, and +the stream is done in a setting of green and +gold. Swallows, skimming the pools, dip in +the cool water, and are gone—leaving a sweet +commotion in ever widening circles long after +they have flown. A mouse-like creeper alights +at the foot of a thorn, and runs nimbly up the<a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"></a> +bark; midway it enters a hole in which is its +nest. A garrulous blue-winged jay chatters +from the tall oak, and purple rooks are picking +among the corn. Butterflies dally through the +warm air, and insects swarm among the leaves +and flowers of the hedge bottoms. A crake +calls, now here, now far out yonder. Bluebells +carpet the wood-margin, and the bog is +bright with marsh plants.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the workshop of the young +poacher, and here he receives his first impressions. +Is it strange that a mighty yearning +springs up within him to know more of nature's +secrets? He finds himself in a fairy place, +and all unconsciously drinks in its sweets. See +him now deeply buried in a golden flood of +marsh marigolds! See how he stands spellbound +before saxifrages which cling to a +dripping rock. Water avens, wild parsley, +and campions crowd around him, and flags +of the yellow and purple iris tower over all. +He watches the doings of the reed-sparrows +deep down in the flags, and sees a water-ouzel +as it rummages among the pebbles at the<a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"></a> +bottom of the brook. The larvæ of caddis +flies, which cover the edge of the stream, are +a curious mystery to him, and he sees the +kingfisher dart away as a bit of green light. +Small silvery trout, which rise in the pool, +tempt him to try for them with a crooked pin, +and even now with success. He hears the +cuckoos crying and calling as they fly from +tree to tree, and quite unexpectedly finds the +nest of a yellow-hammer, between a willow +and the bank, containing its <a name="tn_png_18"></a><!--TN: "curiouly" changed to "curiously"-->curiously speckled +eggs.</p> + +<p>Still the life, and the "hush," and the +breath go on. Everything breathes, and +moves, and has its being; the things of the +day are the essence thereof. On the margin +of the wood are a few young pines, their delicate +plumes just touched with the loveliest +green. An odour of resinous gum is wafted +from them, and upon one of the slender sprays +a pair of diminutive goldcrests have hung their +procreant cradle. These things are enough to +win any young Bohemian to their ways, +and although as yet they only comprise "the<a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"></a> +country," soon their wondrous detail lures +their lover on, and he seeks to satisfy the +thirst within him by night as well as by day.</p> +<div class="figleft" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i006.png" border="0" alt="Man Kneeling in Woods" title="" width="492" height="600"></div> + +<p>Endless acquaintances are to be made +in the fields, and those of the most pleasurable +description. Nests containing young +squirrels can be found in the larch tree tops, +and any domestic tabby will suckle these +delightful playthings. Young cushats and +cushats' eggs can be obtained from their +wicker-like nests, and sold in the villages. A +prickly pet may be captured in a hedgehog +trotting off through the long grass, and colonies +of young wild rabbits may be dug from +the mounds and braes. The skin of every +velvety mole is one patch nearer the accomplishment +of a warm, furry vest for winter, +and this, if the pests of which it is comprised +are the owner's taking, is worn with pardonable +pride. A moleskin vest constitutes a graduation +in woodcraft so to speak. Sometimes a +brace of leverets are found in a tussocky grass +clump, but these are more often allowed to +remain than taken. And there are almost<a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"></a> +innumerable captures to be made among the +feathered as well as furred things of the fields +and woods. Chaffinches are taken in nooses +among the corn, as are larks and buntings. +Crisp cresses from the springs constitute an +important source of income, and the embrowned +nuts of autumn a harvest in themselves. It is +during his early days of working upon the +land that the erstwhile +poacher learns of the +rain-bringing tides; +of the time of +migration of +birds; of the +evening gamboling +of hares; of +the coming together +of the +partridge to +roost; of the +spawning of +salmon and +trout; and a hundred +other scraps<a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"></a> +of knowledge which will serve him in good +stead in his subsequent protest against the +Game Laws.</p> + + + +<p>Almost every young rustic who develops into +a poacher has some such outdoor education as +that sketched above. He has about him +much ready animal ingenuity, and is capable +of almost infinite resource. His snares and +lines are constructed with his pocket knife, out +of material he finds ready to hand in the woods. +He early learns to imitate the call of the game +birds, so accurately as to deceive even the +birds themselves; and his weather-stained +clothes seem to take on themselves the duns +and browns and olives of the woods. A child +brought up in the lap of Nature is invariably +deeply marked with her impress, and we shall +see to what end she has taught him.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"></a> +<a name="CHAPTER_2"></a> +<a name="tn_png_22"></a><!--TN: Period added after "2"--> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i007.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 2." title="" width="700" height="356"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Under the Night.</h2> + + +<div class="poem" style="margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;"> +<span class="i0">Now came still evening on, and twilight gray<br></span> +<span class="i0">Had in her sober liv'ry all things clad.<br></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:0em;padding-top:0em;"><img src="images/spacer.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="1" height="1"></div> + + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i007_worda.png" width="236" height="60" alt="When" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i007_wordb.png" width="118" height="43" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figright" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i008.png" border="0" alt="Owl" title="" width="500" height="462"></div> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">the embryo poacher has once +tasted the forbidden fruits of the +land—and it matters not if his +game be but field-mice and squirrels—there is +only one thing wanting to win him completely +to Nature's ways. This is that he shall see +her sights and hear her sounds under the night. +There is a charm about the night side of nature +that the town dweller can never know. I<a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"></a> +have been once in London, and well remember +what, as a country lad, impressed me +most. It was the fact that I had, during the +small hours of the morning, stood alone on +London Bridge. The great artery of life was +still; the pulse of the city had ceased to beat. +Not a moving object was visible. Although +bred among the lonely hills, I felt for the +first time that this was to be alone; that +this was solitude. I felt such a sense as +Macaulay's New Zealander may experience +when he sits upon the ruins of the same stupendous +structure; and it was then for the +first time I knew whence the inspiration, and +felt the full force and realism of a line I had +heard, "O God! the very houses seemed to +sleep." I could detect no definite sound, only +that vague and distant hum that for ever +haunts and hangs over a great city. Then +my thoughts flew homeward (to the fells and +upland fields, to the cold mists by the river, to +the deep and sombre woods). I had never observed +such a time of quiet there; no absolute +and general period of repose. There was<a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"></a> +always something abroad, +some creature of the +fields or woods, which +by its voice or movements +was betrayed. +Just as in an old rambling +house there +are always strange +noises that cannot +be accounted for, so +in the night-paths of +nature there are innumerable +sounds which can never be localised. +To those, however, who pursue night avocations +in the country, there are always calls and cries +which bespeak life as animate under the night +as that of the day. This is attributable to +various animals and birds, to beetles, to night-flying +insects, even to fish; and part of the +education of the young poacher is to track +these sounds to their source.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i009.png" border="0" alt="Father and Mother and Two Dogs" title="" width="570" height="600"></div> + + +<p>I have said that our family was a family of +poachers. The old instinct was in us all, +though I believe that the same wild spirit<a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"></a> +which drove us to <a name="tn_png_25"></a><!--TN: "the the" changed to "the"-->the moor and covert at +night was only the same as was strongly implanted +in the breast of Lord ——, our +neighbour, who was a legitimate sportsman +and a Justice of the Peace. If we were not +allowed to see much real poaching when +we were young +we saw a good +deal of the preparations +for it. +As the leaves +began to turn in +autumn there +was great activity +in our old +home among +nets and snares. +When wind and +feather were +<a name="tn_png_25a"></a><!--TN: "avourable" changed to "favourable"-->favourable, +late afternoon +brought home my father, and his wires +and nets were already spread on the clean +sanded floor. There was a peg to sharpen, or<a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"></a> +a broken mesh to mend. Every now and then +he would look out on the darkening night, +always directing his glance upward. The two +dogs would whine impatiently to be gone, and +in an hour, with bulky pockets, he would start, +striking right across the land and away from +the high road. The dogs would prick out +their ears on the track, but stuck doggedly to +his heels; and then, as we watched, the darkness +would blot him out of the landscape, and +we turned with our mother to the fireside. In +summer we saw little but the "breaking" of +the lurchers. These dogs take long to train, +but, when perfected, are invaluable. All the +best lurchers are the produce of a cross +between the sheep-dog and greyhound, a +combination which secures the speed and silence +of the one, and the "nose" of the other. +From the batches of puppies we always saved +such as were rough-coated, as these were +better able to stand the exposure of long, +cold nights. In colour the best are fawn or +brown—some shade which assimilates well to +the duns and browns and yellows of the fields<a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"></a> +and woods; but our extended knowledge of +the dogs came in after years.</p> + +<p>The oak gun-rack in our old home contained +a motley collection of fowling pieces, +mostly with the barrels filed down. This was +that the pieces might be more conveniently +stowed away in the pocket until it was +policy to have them out. The guns showed +every graduation in age, size, and make, and +among them was an old flint-lock which had +been in the family for generations. This heirloom +was often surreptitiously stolen away, +and then we were able to bring down larger +game. Wood pigeons were waited for in the +larches, and shot as they came to roost. The +crakes were called by the aid of a small +"crank," and shot as they emerged from the +lush summer grass. Large numbers of green +plover were bagged from time to time, and +often in winter we had a chance at their grey +cousins, the whistling species. Both these fed +in the water-meadows through winter, and +the former were always abundant. In +spring, "trips" of rare dotterel often led us<a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"></a> +about the higher hills for days, and sometimes +we had to stay all night on the mountain. +Then we were up with the first gray light in +the morning, and generally managed to bring +down a few birds. The feathers of these are +extremely valuable for fishing, and my father +invariably supplied them to the county justices +who lived near us. He trained a dog to hunt +dotterel, and so find their nests, and in this +was most successful—more so than an eminent +naturalist who spent five consecutive +summers about the summits of our highest +mountains, though without ever coming across +a nest or seeing the birds. Sometimes we +bagged a gaunt heron as it flapped heavily from<a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"></a> +a ditch—a greater fish poacher than any in the +country side. One of our great resorts on +winter evenings was to an island which bordered +a disused mill-dam. This was thickly +covered with aquatic vegetation, and to it +came teal, mallard, and poachard. All through +the summer we had worked assiduously at a +small "dug-out," and in this we waited, snugly +stowed away behind a willow root. When the +ducks appeared on the sky-line the old flint-lock +was out, a sharp report tore the darkness, +and a brace of teal or mallard floated down +stream, and on to the mill island. In this way +half a dozen ducks would be bagged, and, dead +or dying, they were left where they fell, and +retrieved next morning. Sometimes big game +was obtained in the shape of a brace of geese, +which proved themselves the least wary of a +flock; but these only came in the severest +weather.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:.1em;padding-top:.1em;"><img src="images/i010.png" border="0" alt="Flying Heron" title="" width="700" height="303"></div> + +<p>Cutting the coppice, assisting the charcoal +burners, or helping the old woodman—all gave +facilities for observing the habits of game, and +none of these opportunities were missed. In<a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"></a> +this way we were brought right into the heart +of the land, and our evil genius was hardly +suspected. An early incident in the woods is +worth recording. I have already said that we +took snipe and woodcock by means of "gins" +and "springes," and one morning on going to +examine a snare, we discovered a large buzzard +near one which was "struck." The bird endeavoured +to escape, but, being evidently held +fast, could not. A woodcock had been taken +in one of our snares, which, while fluttering, +had been seen and attacked by the buzzard. +Not content, however, with the body of the +woodcock, it had swallowed a leg also, around +which the nooze was drawn, and the limb was +so securely lodged in its stomach that no force +which the bird could exert could withdraw it. +The gamekeepers would employ us to take +hedgehogs, which we did in steel traps baited +with eggs. These prickly little animals were +justly blamed for robbing pheasants' nests, and +many a one paid the penalty for so doing. +We received so much per head for the capture of +these, as also for moles which tunnelled the<a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"></a> +banks of the water meadows. Being injurious +to the stream sides and the young larches, the +farmers were anxious to rid these; and one +summer we received a commission to exercise +our knowledge of field-craft against them. But +in the early days our greatest successes were +among the sea ducks and wildfowl which +haunted the marram-covered flats and ooze +banks of an inland bay a few miles from our +home. Mention of our capturing the sea +birds brings to mind some very early rabbit +poaching. At dusk the rabbits used to come +down from the woods, and on to the sandy saline +tracts to nibble the short sea grass. As +twilight came we used to lie quiet among the +rocks and boulders, and, armed with the old +flint-lock, knock over the rabbits as soon as +they had settled to feed. But this was only +tasting the delights of that first experience in +"fur" which was to become so widely developed +in future years. Working a duck +decoy—when we knew where we had the +decoyman—was another profitable night adventure, +which sometimes produced dozens<a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"></a> +of delicate teal, mallard and widgeon. Another +successful method of taking seafowl was by +the "fly" or "ring" net. When there was +but little or no moon these were set across +the banks last covered by the tide. The +nets were made of fine thread, and hung +on poles from ten to twenty yards apart. Care +had to be taken to do this loosely, so as to give +the nets plenty of "bag." Sometimes we had +these nets hung for half a mile along the mud +flats, and curfew, whimbrel, geese, ducks, and +various shore-haunting birds were taken in +them. Sometimes a bunch of teal, flying down +wind, would break right through the net and +escape. This, however, was not a frequent +occurrence.</p> + + + +<p>There is one kind of poaching, which, as a +lad, I was forbidden, and I have never indulged +in it from that day to this. This was egg +poaching. In our own district it was carried +on to a large extent, though I never heard +of it until the artificial rearing of game +came in. The squire's keeper will give sixpence +each for pheasants' eggs, and fourpence<a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"></a> +for those of partridges. I know for certain +that he often buys eggs (unknowingly, of +course) from his master's preserves as well as +those of his neighbours. In the hedge bottom, +along the covert side, or among broom and +gorse, the farm labourer notices a pair of +partridges roaming morning after morning. +Soon he finds their oak-leaf nest and olive +eggs. These the keeper readily buys, winking +at what he knows to be dishonest. Ploughboys +and farm labourers have peculiarly favourable +opportunities for egg poaching. As +to pheasants' eggs, if the keeper be an honest +man and refuses to buy, there are always large +town dealers who will. Once in the coverts +pheasants' eggs are easily found. The birds +get up heavily from their nests, and go away +with a loud whirring of wings. In this species +of poaching women and children are largely +employed, and at the time the former are ostensibly +gathering sticks, the latter wild flowers. +I have known the owner of the "smithy," who +was the receiver in our village, send to London +in the course of a week a thousand eggs, every<a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"></a> +one of them gathered off the neighbouring +estates.</p> + +<p>When I say that I never indulged in egg +poaching I do not set up for being any better +than my neighbours. I had been forbidden to +do it as a lad because my father give it +the ugly name of thieving, and it had never +tempted me aside. It was tame work at best, +and there was none of the exhilarating fascination +about it that I found in going after the +game birds themselves.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"></a> +<a name="CHAPTER_3"></a><a name="tn_png_35"></a><!--TN: Period moved from after "Chapter" to after "3"--> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i011.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 3." title="" width="700" height="297"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Graduating in Woodcraft.</h2> + + +<div class="poem" style="padding-top:1em;padding-bottom:1em;"> +<span class="i0">We hear the cry<br></span> +<span class="i1">Of their voices high,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Falling dreamily through the sky;<br></span> +<span class="i1">But their forms we cannot see.<br></span> +</div> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:0em;padding-top:0em;"><img src="images/spacer.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="1" height="1"></div> + + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i011_worda.png" width="157" height="46" alt="Just" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i011_wordb.png" width="73" height="57" alt="" title=""> +</div> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">as the sportsman loves "rough +shooting," so the poacher invariably +chooses wild ground for his depredations. +There is hardly a sea-parish in the +country which has not its shore shooter, its +poacher, and its fowler. Fortunately for my +graduation in woodcraft I fell in with one of the +latter at the very time I most needed his instructions. +As the "Snig," as I was generally +called, was so passionately fond of "live" +things, old "Kittiwake" was quite prepared to<a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"></a> +be companionable. Although nearly three +score years and ten divided our lives, there +was something in common between us. Love +of being abroad beneath the moon and stars; +of wild wintry skies; of the weird cries that +came from out the darkness—love of everything +indeed that pertained to the night side +of nature. What terrible tales of the sands +and marshes the old man would tell as we sat +in his turf-covered cottage, listening to the +lashing storm and driving water without. Occasionally +we heard sounds of the Demon +Huntsman and his Wish-hounds as they crossed +the wintry skies. If Kittiwake knew, he would +never admit that these were the wild swans +coming from the north, which chose the +darkest nights for their migration. When my +old tutor saw that I was already skilled in the +use of "gins" and "springes," and sometimes +brought in a snipe or woodcock, his old +eyes glistened as he looked upon the marsh-birds. +It was on one such occasion, pleased +at my success, that he offered what he had +never offered to mortal—to teach me the whole<a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"></a> +art of fowling. I remember the old man as he +lay on his heather bench when he made this +magnanimous offer. In appearance he was a +splendid type of a northern yeoman, his face +fringed with silvery hair, and cut in the finest +features. One eye was bright and clear even +at his great age, though the other was rheumy, +and almost blotted out. He rarely undressed +at nights, his outward garb seemed more +a production of nature than of art, and was +changed, when, like the outer cuticle of the +marsh vipers, it sloughed off. It was only in +winter that the old man lived his lonely life on +the mosses and marshes, for during the summer +he turned from fowler to fisher, or assisted in +the game preserves. The haunts and habits of +the marsh and shore birds he knew by heart, +and his great success in taking them lay in the +fact that he was a close and accurate observer. +He would watch the fowl, then set his nets and +noozes by the light of his acquired knowledge. +These things he had always known, but it was +in summer, when he was assisting at pheasant +rearing, that he got to know all about game<a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"></a> +in fur and feather. He noted that the handsome +cock pheasants always crowed before +they flew up to roost; that in the evening the +partridges called as they came together in the +grass lands; and he watched the ways of the +hares as they skipped in the moonlight. These +things we were wont to discuss when wild +weather prevented our leaving the hut; and +all our plans were tested by experiment before +they were put into practice. It was upon +these occasions, too, that the garrulous old +man would tell of his early life. That was the +time for fowl; but now the plough had invaded +the sea-birds' haunt. He would tell of +immense flocks of widgeon, of banks of brent +geese, and clouds of dunlin. Bitterns used to +boom and breed in the bog, and once, though +only once, a great bustard was shot. In his +young days Kittiwake had worked a decoy, as +had his father and grandfather before him; +and when any stray fowler or shore-shooter +told of the effect of a single shot of their big +punt-guns, he would cap their stories by +going back to the days of decoying. Although<a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"></a> +decoying had almost gone out, this was the +only subject that the old man was reticent +upon, and he surrounded the craft with +all the mystery he was able to conjure up. +The site of his once famous decoy was now +drained, and in summer ruddy corn waved +above it. Besides myself, Kittiwake's sole +companion on the mosses was an old shaggy +galloway, and it was almost as eccentric and +knowing as its master. So great was the number +of gulls and terns that bred on the mosses, +that for two months during the breeding +season the old horse was fed upon their eggs. +Morning and evening a basketful was collected, +and so long as these lasted Dobbin's +coat continued sleek and soft.</p> + +<p>In August and September we would capture +immense numbers of "flappers"—plump wild +ducks—but, as yet, unable to fly. These were +either caught in the pools, or chased into nets +which we set to intercept them. As I now +took more than my share of the work, and +made all the gins, springes, and noozes which +we used, a rough kind of partnership sprung<a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"></a> +up between us. The young ducks brought us +good prices, and there was another source of +income which paid well, but was not of long +duration. There is a short period in each year +when even the matured wild ducks are quite +unable to fly. The male of the common wild +duck is called the mallard, and soon after his +brown duck begins to sit the drake moults the +whole of its flight feathers. So sudden and +simultaneous is this process that for six weeks +in summer the usually handsome drake is quite +incapable of flight, and it is probably at this +period of its ground existence that the assumption +of the duck's plumage is such an aid +to protection. Quite the handsomest of the +wildfowl on the marsh were a colony of sheldrakes +which occupied a number of disused +rabbit-burrows on a raised plateau overlooking +the bay. The ducks were bright chestnut, +white, and purple, and in May laid from nine +to a dozen creamy eggs. As these birds +brought high prices for stocking ornamental +waters, we used to collect the eggs and hatch +them out under hens in the turf cottage. This<a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"></a> +was a quite successful experiment up to a +certain point; but the young fowl, immediately +they were hatched, seemed to be able to smell +the salt water, and would cover miles to gain +the creek. With all our combined watchfulness +the downy ducklings sometimes <a name="tn_png_41"></a><!--TN: "sucseeded" changed to "succeeded"-->succeeded +in reaching their loved briny element, +and once in the sea were never seen again. +The pretty sea swallows used to breed on the +marsh, and the curious ruffs and reeves. These +indulged in the strangest flights at breeding +time, and it was then that we used to capture +the greatest numbers. We took them alive in +nets, and then fattened them on soaked wheat. +The birds were sent all the way to London, +and brought good prices. By being kept +closely confined and frequently fed, in a fortnight +they became so plump as to resemble +balls of fat, and then brought as much as +a florin a piece. If care were not taken to kill +the birds just when they attained to their +greatest degree of fatness they fell rapidly in +condition, and were nearly worthless. To kill +them we were wont to pinch off the head, and<a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"></a> +when all the blood had exuded the flesh remained +white and delicate. Greater delicacies +even than ruffs and reeves were godwits, which +were fatted in like manner for the table. +Experiments in fattening were upon one occasion +<a name="tn_png_42"></a><!--TN: "succesfully" changed to "successfully"-->successfully tried with a brood of greylag +geese which we discovered on the marshes. +As this is the species from which the domestic +stock is descended, we found little difficulty in +herding, though we were always careful to +house them at night, and pinioned them as the +time of the autumnal migration came round. +We well knew that the skeins of wild geese +which at this time nightly cross the sky, calling +as they fly, would soon have robbed us of our +little flock.</p> + +<p>In winter, snipe were always numerous on +the mosses, and were among the first birds to +be affected by severe weather. If on elevated +ground when the frost set in, they immediately +betake themselves to the lowlands, and at these +times we used to take them in pantles made of +twisted horsehair. In preparing these we +trampled a strip of oozy ground until, in the<a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"></a> +darkness, it had the appearance of a narrow +plash of water. The snipe were taken as they +came to feed on ground presumably containing +food of which they were fond. As well +as woodcock and snipe, we took larks by +thousands. The pantles for these we set somewhat +differently than those intended for the +minor game birds. A main line, sometimes as +much as a hundred yards in length, was set +along the marsh; and to this at short intervals +were attached a great number of loops of +horsehair in which the birds were strangled. +During the migratory season, or in winter +when larks are flocked, sometimes a hundred +bunches of a dozen each would be taken in a +single day.</p> + +<p>During the rigour of winter great flocks of +migratory ducks and geese came to the bay, +and prominent among them were immense +flocks of scoters. Often from behind an ooze +bank did we watch parties of these playing and +chasing each other over the crests of the +waves, seeming indifferent to the roughest seas. +The coming of the scoter brought flush times,<a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"></a> +and in hard weather our takes were tremendous. +Another of the wild ducks which +visited us was the pochard or dunbird. We +mostly called it "poker" and "redhead," +owing to the bright chestnut of its neck and +head. It is somewhat heavily made, swims +low in the water, and from its legs being +placed far behind for diving it is very awkward +on land. In winter the pochard was abundant +on the coast, but as it was one of the shyest of +fowl it was always difficult to approach. If +alarmed it paddles rapidly away, turning its +head, and always keeping an eye to the rear. +On account of its wariness it is oftener netted +than shot. The shore-shooters hardly ever +get a chance at it. We used to take it in the +creeks on the marsh, and, as the matter is +difficult to explain, I will let the following +quotation tell how it was done:</p> + +<p>"The water was surrounded with huge nets, +fastened with poles laid flat on the ground +when ready for action, each net being, perhaps, +sixty feet long and twenty feet deep. When +all was ready the pochards were frightened off<a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"></a> +the water. Like all diving ducks they were +obliged to fly low for some distance, and also +to head the wind before rising. Just as the +mass of birds reached the side of the pool, one +of the immense nets, previously regulated by +weights and springs, rose upright as it was +freed from its fastenings by the fowler from a +distance with a long rope. If this were done +at the right moment the ducks were met full +in the face by a wall of net, and thrown helpless +into a deep ditch dug at its foot for their +reception."</p> + +<p>In addition to our nets and snares we had +a primitive fowling-piece, though we only +used it when other methods failed. It was an +ancient flint-lock, with tremendously long +barrels. Sometimes it went off; oftener it did +not. I well remember with what desperation +I, upon one occasion, clung to this murderous +weapon whilst it meditated, so to speak. It is +true that it brought down quite a wisp of +dunlins, but then there was almost a cloud of +them to fire at. These and golden plover +were mainly the game for the flint-lock, and<a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"></a> +with them we were peculiarly successful. +If we had not been out all night we were +invariably abroad at dawn, when golden +plover fly and feed in close bodies. Upon +these occasions sometimes a dozen birds were +bagged at a shot, though, after all, the chief +product of our days were obtained in the +cymbal nets. We invariably used a decoy, +and when the wild birds were brought down, +and came within the workings of the net, it +was rapidly pulled over and the game secured. +For the most part, however, only the smaller +birds were taken in this way. Coots came +round in their season, and although they +yielded a good harvest, netting them was not +very profitable, for as their flesh was dark and +fishy only the villagers and fisher-folk would +buy them.</p> + +<p>A curious little bird, the grebe or dabchick, +used to haunt the pools and ditches of the +marsh, and we not unfrequently caught them +in the nets whilst drawing for salmon which +ran up the creek to spawn. They had +curious feet, lobed like chestnut leaves, and<a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"></a> +hardly any wing. This last was more like a +flipper, and upon one occasion, when no less +than three had caught in the meshes, a dispute +arose between us as to whether they were able +to fly. Kittiwake and I argued that whilst +they were resident and bred in the marshes, +yet their numbers were greatly augmented in +autumn by other birds which came to spend +the winter. Whilst I contended that they +flew, Kittiwake said that their tiny wings could +never support them, and certainly neither of us +had ever seen them on their journeyings. Two +of the birds we took a mile from the water, +and then threw them into the air, when they +darted off straight and swift for the mosses +which lay stretched at our feet a mile below.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"></a> + +<a name="CHAPTER_4" id="CHAPTER_4"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i012.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 4." title="" width="700" height="328"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Partridge Poaching.</h2> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i012_worda.png" width="138" height="43" alt="The" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i012_wordb.png" width="81" height="38" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i012_wordc.png" width="138" height="22" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">bloom on the brambles; the ripening +of the nuts; and the ruddiness of the +corn all acted as reminders that the +"fence" time was rapidly drawing to a close. +So much did the first frosts quicken us that it +was <a name="tn_png_48"></a><!--TN: "dfficult" changed to "difficult"-->difficult to resist throwing up our farm work +before the game season was fairly upon us. +There was only one way in which we could curb +the wild impulse within. We stood up to the +golden corn and smote it from the rising to the +going down of the sun. The hunters' moon tried<a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"></a> +hard to win us to the old hard life of sport; +but still the land must be cleared. There was +a double pleasure in the ruddy sheaves, for +they told of golden guineas, and until the +last load was carried neither nets, gins, nor the +old duck-gun were of any use. The harvest +housed the game could begin, and then the +sweet clover, which the hares loved, first +pushed their shoots between the stubble stalks. +But neither the hares on the fallows, the +grouse on the moor, nor the pheasants on the +bare branches brought us so much pleasure as +the partridge. A whole army of shooters love +the little brown birds, and we are quite of +their way of thinking.</p> + +<p>A long life of poaching has not cooled our +ardour for this phase of woodcraft. At the outset +we may state that we have almost invariably +observed close times, and have rarely killed a +hare or game-bird out of season. The man +who excels in poaching must be country bred. +He must not only know the land, but the +ways of the game by heart. Every sign of +wind and weather must be observed, as all<a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"></a> +help in the silent trade. Then there is the +rise and wane of the moon, the rain-bringing +tides, and the shifting of the birds with the +seasons. These and a hundred other things +must be kept in an unwritten calendar, and +only the poacher can keep it. Speaking from +hard experience, his out-door life will make +him quick; will endow him with much ready +animal ingenuity. He will take in an immense +amount of knowledge of the life of the fields +and woods; and it is this teaching which will +ultimately give him accuracy of eye and judgment +sufficient to interpret what he sees aright. +To succeed the poacher must be a specialist. +It is better if he directs his attention to "fur," +or to "feather" alone; but it is terribly hard +to resist going in for both. There is less +scope for field ingenuity in taking game birds; +but at the same time there is always the probability +of more wholesale destruction. This +arises from the fact of the birds being gregarious. +Both grouse and partridge go in +coveys, and pheasants are found in the company +of their own kind. Partridges roost on<a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"></a> +the ground, and sleep with tails tucked +together and heads outwards. Examine the +fallow after they have left it in a morning, and +this will be at once apparent. A covey in this +position represents little more than a mass of +feathers. It is for protective reasons that +partridges always spend their nights in the +open. Birds which do not perch would soon +become extinct were they to seek the protection +of woods and hedge-bottoms by night. +Such ground generally affords cover for +vermin—weazels, polecats, and stoats. Although +partridges roam far by day, they +invariably come together at night, being partial +to the same fields and fallows. They run +much, and rarely fly, except when passing from +one feeding ground to another. In coming +together in the evening their calls may be +heard to some distance. These were the +sounds we listened for, and marked. We remembered +the gorse bushes, and knew that +the coveys would not be far from them.</p> + +<p>We always considered partridge good game, +and sometimes were watching a dozen coveys<a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"></a> +at the same time. September once in, there +was never a sun-down that did not see one of +us on our rounds making mental notes. It +was not often, however, that more than three +coveys were marked for a night's work. One +of these, perhaps, would be in turnips, another +among stubble, and the third on grass. According +to the nature of the crop, the lay of +the land, wind, &c., so we varied our tactics. +Netting partridges always requires two persons, +though a third to walk after the net is helpful. +If the birds have been carefully marked down, +a narrow net is used; if their roosting-place is +uncertain a wider net is better. When all is +ready this is slowly dragged along the ground, +and is thrown down immediately the whirr of +wings is heard. If neatly and silently done, +the whole covey is bagged. There is a terrible +flutter, a cloud of brown feathers, and all is +over. It is not always, however, that the draw +is so successful. In view of preventing this +method of poaching, especially on land where +many partridges roost, keepers plant low +scrubby thorns at intervals. These so far<a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"></a> +interfere with the working of the net as to +allow the birds time to escape. We were +never much troubled, however, in this way. +As opportunity offered the quick-thorns were +torn up, and a dead black-thorn bough took +their place. As the thorns were low the difference +was never noticed, even by the keepers, +and, of course, they were carefully removed +before, and replaced after, netting. Even +when the dodge was detected the fields and +fallows had been pretty much stripped of the +birds. This method is impracticable now, as +the modern method of reaping leaves the +brittle stubble as bare as the squire's lawn. +We had always a great objection to use a +wide net where a narrow one would suit the +purpose. Among turnips, and where large +numbers of birds were supposed to lie, a +number of rows or "riggs" were taken at a +time, until the whole of the ground had been +traversed. This last method is one that requires +time and a knowledge of the keeper's +beat. On rough ground the catching of the +net may be obviated by having about eighteen<a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"></a> +inches of smooth glazed material bordering +the lowest and trailing part of it. Some of +the small farmers were as fond of poaching as +ourselves, and here is a trick which one of +them successfully employed whenever he heard +the birds in his land. He scattered a train of grain +from the field in which the partridge roosted, +each morning bringing it nearer and nearer to +the stack-yard. After a time the birds became +accustomed to this mode of feeding, and as +they grew bolder the grain-train was continued +inside the barn. When they saw the golden +feast invitingly spread, they were not slow to +enter, and the doors were quickly closed +upon them. Then the farmer entered with a +bright light and felled the birds with a stick.</p> + +<p>In the dusk of a late autumn afternoon a +splendid "pot" shot was sometimes had at a +bunch of partridges just gathered for the night. +I remember a score such. The call of the +partridge is less deceptive than any other game +bird, and the movements of a covey are easily +watched. This tracking is greatly aided if the +field in which the birds are is bounded by<a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"></a> +stone walls. As dusk deepens and draws +to dark, they run and call less, and soon all is +still. The closely-packed covey is easy to +detect against the yellow stubble, and resting +the gun on the wall, a charge of heavy shot +fired into their midst usually picks off the lot. +If in five minutes the shot brings up the keeper +it matters little, as then you are far over the +land.</p> + +<p>Partridges feed in the early morning—as +soon as day breaks, in fact. They resort to one +spot, and are constant in their coming, especially +if encouraged. This fact I well knew, +and laid my plans accordingly. By the aid of the +moon a train of grain was laid straight as a +hazel wand. Upon these occasions I never went +abroad without an old duck-gun, the barrels of +which had been filed down. This enabled me +to carry the gun-stock in one pocket, the +barrels in the other. The shortness of the +latter in nowise told against the shooting, as +the gun was only required to use at short +distances. The weapon was old, thick at +the muzzle, and into it I crammed a heavy<a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"></a> +charge of powder and shot. Ensconced in the +scrub I had only now to wait for the dawn. +Almost before it was fully light the covey +would come with a loud whirring of wings, and +settle to feed immediately. This was the +critical moment. Firing along the line a single +shot strewed the ground with dead and dying; +and in ten minutes, always keeping clear of the +roads, I was a mile from the spot.</p> + +<p>I had yet another and a more successful +method of taking partridges. When, from the +watchfulness or cleverness of keepers (they are +not intelligent men as a rule), both netting and +shooting proved impracticable, I soaked grain +until it became swollen, and then steeped it in +the strongest spirit. This, as before, was +strewn in the morning paths of the partridge, +and, soon taking effect, the naturally pugnacious +birds were presently staggering and fighting +desperately. Then I bided my time, and as +opportunity offered, knocked the incapacitated +birds on the head.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i013.png" border="0" alt="Dog with Lantern Hanging from Neck" title="" width="700" height="461"></div> + + +<p>One of the most ingenious and frequently +successful methods I employed for bagging<a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"></a> +partridge was by the aid of an old setter +bitch having a lantern tied to her neck. +Being somewhat risky, I only employed it +when other plans failed, and when I had a +good notion of the keeper's whereabouts. +The lantern was made from an old salmon +canister stripped of its sides, and contained a +bit of candle. When the bitch was put off +into seeds or stubble she would range quietly +until she found the birds, then stand as<a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"></a> +stiffly as though done in marble. This shewed +me just where the covey lay, and as the light +either dazzled or frightened the birds, it was not +difficult to clap the net over them. It sometimes +happened that others besides myself +were watching this strange luminous light, and +it was probably set down as some phenomenon +of the night-side of nature. Once, however, +I lost my long silk net, and as there was +everything to be gained by running, and much<a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"></a> +to be lost by staying, I ran desperately. Only +an old, slow dog can be used in this species of +poaching, and it is marvellous to see with +what spirit and seeming understanding it +enters into the work.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i014.png" border="0" alt="Boy Running from Man" title="" width="700" height="607"></div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"></a> +<a name="CHAPTER_5" id="CHAPTER_5"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i015.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 5." title="" width="700" height="310"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Hare Poaching.</h2> +<div class="poem" style="padding-top:1em;padding-bottom:1em;"> +<span class="i0">The merry brown hares came leaping<br></span> +<span class="i2">Over the crest of the hill,<br></span> +<span class="i0">Where the clover and corn lay sleeping<br></span> +<span class="i2">Under the moonlight still.<br></span> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:0em;padding-top:0em;"><img src="images/spacer.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="1" height="1"></div> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i015_worda.png" width="153" height="47" alt="Our" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i015_wordb.png" width="70" height="56" alt="" title=""> +</div> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">hare season generally began with +partridge poaching, so that the coming +of the hunter's moon was always an interesting +autumnal event. By its aid the first +big bag of the season was made. When a +field is sown down, which it is intended to +bring back to grass, clover is invariably sown<a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"></a> +with the grain. This springs between the corn +stalks, and by the time the golden sheaves are +carried, has swathed the stubble with mantling +green. This, before all others, is the crop +which hares love.</p> + +<p>Poaching is one of the fine arts, and the +man who would succeed must be a specialist. If +he has sufficient strength to refrain from general +"mouching," he will succeed best by selecting +one particular kind of game, and directing his +whole knowledge of woodcraft against it. In +spring and summer I was wont to closely scan +the fields, and as embrowned September drew +near, knew the whereabouts of every hare in +the parish—not only the field where it lay, +but the very clump of rushes in which was its +form. As puss went away from the gorse, or +raced down the turnip-rigg, I took in every +twist and double down to the minutest detail.</p> + +<p>Then I scanned the "smoots" and gates +through which she passed, and was always +careful to approach these laterally. I left no +trace of hand nor print of foot, nor disturbed +the rough herbage. Late afternoon brought<a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"></a> +me home, and upon the hearth the wires and +nets were spread for inspection. When all +was ready, and the dogs whined impatiently to +be gone, I would strike right into the heart of +the land, and away from the high-road.</p> + +<p>Mention of the dogs brings me to my fastest +friends. Without them poaching for fur would +be almost impossible. I invariably used +bitches, and as success depended almost +wholly upon them, I was bound to keep only +the best. Lurchers take long to train, but +when perfected are invaluable. I have had, +maybe, a dozen dogs in all, the best being the +result of a pure cross between greyhound +and sheepdog. In night work silence is essential +to success, and such dogs never bark; +they have the good nose of the one, and the +speed of the other. In selecting puppies it is +best to choose rough-coated ones, as they are +better able to stand the exposure of cold, +rough nights. Shades of brown and fawn are +preferable for colour, as these best assimilate +to the duns and browns of the fields and +woods. The process of training would take<a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"></a> +long to describe; but it is wonderful how soon +the dog takes on the habits of its master. They +soon learn to slink along by hedge and ditch, +and but rarely shew in the open. They know<a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"></a> +every field-cut and by-path for miles, and are +as much aware as their masters that county +constables have a nasty habit of loitering about +unfrequented lanes at daybreak.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i016.png" border="0" alt="Woman Carrying Basket" title="" width="597" height="700"></div> + + +<p>The difficulty lies not so much in obtaining +game as in getting it home safely; but for all +that I was but rarely surprised with game +upon me in this way. Disused buildings, +stacks, and dry ditches are made to contain +the "haul" until it can be sent for—an office +which I usually got some of the field-women +to perform for me. Failing these, country +carriers and early morning milk-carts were +useful. When I was night poaching, it was +important that I should have the earliest intimation +of the approach of a possible enemy, +and to secure this the dogs were always trained +to run on a few hundred yards in advance. +A well-trained lurcher is almost infallible in +detecting a foe, and upon meeting one he runs +back to his master under cover of the <i>far side</i> +of a fence. When the dog came back to me in +this way I lost not a second in accepting the +shelter of the nearest hedge or deepest ditch<a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"></a> +till the danger was past. If suddenly surprised +and without means of hiding, myself and the +dog would make off in different directions. +Then there were times when it was inconvenient +that we should know each other, and upon +such occasions the dogs would not recognise +me even upon the strongest provocation.</p> + +<p>My best lurchers knew as much of the habits of +game as I did. According to the class of land +to be worked they were aware whether hares, +partridges, or rabbits were to constitute the +game for the night. They judged to a nicety +the speed at which a hare should be driven to +make a snare effective, and acted accordingly. +At night the piercing scream of a netted hare +can be heard to a great distance, and no sound +sooner puts the keeper on the alert.</p> + +<p>Consequently, when "puss" puts her neck +into a wire, or madly jumps into a gate-net, +the dog is on her in an instant, and quickly +stops her piteous squeal. In field-netting rabbits, +lurchers are equally quick, seeming quite +to appreciate the danger of noise. Once only +have I heard a lurcher give mouth. "Rough"<a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"></a> +was a powerful, deep-chested bitch, but upon +one occasion she failed to jump a stiff, +stone fence, with a nine-pound hare in her +mouth. She did not bark, however, until she +had several times failed at the fence, and when +she thought her whereabouts were unknown. +Hares and partridges invariably squat on the +fallow or in the stubble when alarmed, and remain +absolutely still till the danger is passed. +This act is much more likely to be observed +by the dog than its master, and in such cases +the lurchers gently rubbed my shins to apprise +me of the fact. Then I moved more cautiously. +Out-lying pheasants, rabbits in the +clumps, red grouse on the heather—the old +dog missed none of them. Every movement +was noted, and each came to the capacious +pocket in turn. The only serious fights I ever +had were when keepers threatened to shoot +the dogs. This was a serious matter. Lurchers +take long to train, and a keeper's summary +proceeding often stops a whole winter's work, +as the best dogs cannot easily be replaced. +Many a one of our craft would as soon have<a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"></a> +been shot himself as seen his dog destroyed; +and there are few good dogs which have not, +at one time or other, been riddled with pellets +during their lawless (save the mark!) career. +If a hare happens to be seen, the dog sometimes +works it so cleverly as to "chop" it in +its "form"; and both hares and rabbits are not +unfrequently snapped up without being run +at all. In fact, depredations in fur would be +exceedingly limited without the aid of dogs; +and one country squire saved his ground game +for a season by buying my best brace of lurchers +at a very fancy price; while upon another +occasion a bench of magistrates demanded to +see the dogs of whose doings they had heard +so much. In short, my lurchers at night embodied +all my senses.</p> + +<p>Whilst preparing my nets and wires, the +dogs would whine impatiently to be gone. +Soon their ears were pricked out on the track, +though until told to leave they stuck doggedly +to heel. Soon the darkness would blot out +even the forms of surrounding objects, and our +movements were made more cautiously. A<a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"></a> +couple of snares are set in gaps in an old +thorn fence not more than a yard <a name="tn_png_68"></a><!--TN: Period added after "apart"-->apart. These +are delicately manipulated, as we know from +previous knowledge that the hare will take one +of them. The black dog is sent over, the +younger fawn bitch staying behind. The +former slinks slowly down the field, sticking +close to the cover of a fence running at right +angles to the one in which the wires are set. +I have arranged that the wind shall blow from +the dog and across to the hare's seat when the +former shall come opposite. The ruse acts; +"puss" is alarmed, but not terrified; she gets +up and goes quietly away for the hedge. The +dog is crouched, anxiously watching; she is +making right for the snare, though something +must be added to her speed to make the wire +effective. As the dog closes in, I wait, bowed, +with hands on knees, still as death, for her +coming. I hear the brush of the grass, +the trip, trip, trip, as the herbage is brushed. +There is a rustle among the dead leaves, +a desperate rush, a momentary squeal—and the +wire has tightened round her throat.<a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"></a></p> + +<p>Again we trudge silently along the lane, but +soon stop to listen. Then we disperse, but to +any on-looker would seem to have dissolved. +This dry ditch is capacious, and its dead +herbage tall and tangled. A heavy foot, with +regular beat, approaches along the road, and +dies slowly away in the distance.</p> + +<p>Hares love green cornstalks, and a field of +young wheat is at hand; I spread a net, twelve +feet by six, at the gate, and at a sign the dogs +depart different ways. Their paths soon converge, +for the night is torn by a piteous cry; +the road is enveloped in a cloud of dust; and +in the midst of the confusion the dogs dash +over the fence. They must have found their +game near the middle of the field, and driven +the hares—for there are two—so hard that +they carried the net right before them; every +struggle wraps another mesh about them, and, +in a moment, their screams are quieted. By a +quick movement I wrap the long net about my +arm, and, taking the noiseless sward, get +hastily away from the spot.<a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"></a></p> + +<p>In March, when hares are pairing, four or +five may frequently be found together in one +field. Although wild, they seem to lose much +of their natural timidity, and during this month +I usually reaped a rich harvest. I was always +careful to set my wires and snares on the side +<i>opposite</i> to that from which the game would +come, for this reason—that hares approach +any place through which they are about +to pass in a zig-zag manner. They come on, +playing and frisking, stopping now and then to +nibble the herbage. Then they canter, making +wide leaps at right angles to their path, and sit +listening upon their haunches. A freshly impressed +footmark, the scent of dog or man, +almost invariably turns them back. Of course +these traces are certain to be left if the snare +be set on the <i>near</i> side of the gate or fence, +and then a hare will refuse to take it, even +when hard pressed. Now here is a wrinkle to +any keeper who cares to accept it. Where +poaching is prevalent and hares abundant, +<i>every hare on the estate should be netted</i>, for it +is a fact well known to every poacher versed<a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"></a> +in his craft, that an escaped hare that has +once been netted can never be retaken. +The process, however, will effectually frighten +a small percentage of hares off the land altogether.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i017.png" border="0" alt="Man Driving Sheep through Gate" title="" width="700" height="470"></div> + + +<p>The human scent left at gaps and gateways +by ploughmen, shepherds, and mouchers, the +wary poacher will obliterate by driving sheep +over the spot before he begins operations. On +the sides of fells and uplands hares are difficult +to kill. This can only be accomplished by<a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"></a> +swift dogs, which are taken <i>above</i> the game. +Puss is made to run down-hill, when, from her +peculiar formation, she goes at a disadvantage.</p> + +<p>Audacity almost invariably stands the poacher +in good stead. Here is an actual incident. +I knew of a certain field of young wheat in +which was several hares—a fact observed +during the <a name="tn_png_72"></a><!--TN: Period added after "day"-->day. This was hard by the keeper's +cottage, and surrounded by a high fence of +loose stones. It will be seen that the situation +was somewhat critical, but that night +my nets were set at the gates through which +the hares always made. To drive them the +dog was to range the field, entering it at a +point furthest away from the gate. I bent +my back in the road a yard from the wall +to aid the dog. It retired, took a mighty +spring, and barely touching my shoulders, +bounded over the fence. The risk was justified +by the haul, for that night I bagged nine +good hares.</p> + +<p>Owing to the scarcity of game, hare-poaching +is now hardly worth following, and I +believe that what is known as the <i>Ground<a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"></a> +Game Act</i> is mainly responsible for this. A +country Justice, who has often been my friend +when I was sadly in need of one, asked me +why I thought the Hares and Rabbits Act +had made both kinds of fur scarcer. I told +him that the hare would become abundant +again if it were not beset by so many enemies. +Since 1880 it has had no protection, and +the numbers have gone down amazingly. A +shy and timid animal, it is worried through +every month of the year. It does not +burrow, and has not the protection of the +rabbit. Although the colour of its fur resembles +that of the dead grass and herbage +among which it lies, yet it starts from its +"form" at the approach of danger, and from +its size makes an easy mark. It is not unfrequently +"chopped" by sheep-dogs, and in +certain months hundreds of leverets perish in +this way. Hares are destroyed wholesale +during the mowing of the grass and the reaping +of the corn. For a time in summer, leverets +especially seek this kind of cover, and farmers +and farm-labourers kill numbers with dog and<a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"></a> +gun—and this at a time when they are quite unfit +for food. In addition to these causes of scarcity +there are others well known to sportsmen. +When harriers hunt late in the season—as they +invariably do now-a-days—many leverets are +"chopped," and for every hare that goes +away three are killed in the manner indicated. +At least, that is my experience +while mouching in the wake of the hounds. +When hunting continues through March, +master and huntsman assert that this havoc is +necessary in order to kill off superabundant +jack-hares, and so preserve the balance of +stock. Doubtless there was reason in this +argument before the present scarcity, but now +there is none. March, too, is a general +breeding month, and the hunting of doe-hares +entails the grossest cruelty. Coursing is +confined within no fixed limits, and is prolonged +far too late in the season. What has +been said of hunting applies to coursing, and +these things sportsmen can remedy if they +wish. There is more unwritten law in connection +with British field-sports than any other<a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"></a> +pastime; but obviously it might be added to +with advantage. If something is not done the +hare will assuredly become extinct. To prevent +this a "close time" is, in the opinion +of those best versed in woodcraft, absolutely +necessary. The dates between which the +hare would best be protected are the first +of March and the first of August. Then we +would gain all round. The recent relaxation +of the law has done something to encourage +poaching, and poachers now find pretexts for +being on or about land which before were of +no avail, and to the moucher accurate observation +by day is one of the essentials to +success.</p> + +<p>Naturalists ought to know best; but there has +been more unnatural history written concerning +hares than any other British animal. It is said +to produce two young ones at a birth, but observant +poachers know that from three to five +leverets are not unfrequently found: then it is +stated that hares breed twice, or at most thrice, +a year. Anyone, however, who has daily observed +their habits, knows that there are but<a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"></a> +few months in which leverets are not born. +In mild winters young ones are found in +January and February, whilst in March they +have become common. They may be seen +right on through summer and autumn, and last +December I saw a brace of leverets a month old. +Does shot in October are sometimes found to +be giving milk, and in November old hares are +not unfrequently noticed in the same patch of +cover. These facts would seem to point to +the conclusion that the hare propagates its +species almost the whole year round—a startling +piece of evidence to the older naturalists. Add +to this that hares pair when a year old, that +gestation lasts only thirty days, and it will be +seen what a possibly prolific animal the hare +may be. The young are born covered with +fur, and after a month leave their mother to +seek their own subsistence.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"></a> + +<a name="CHAPTER_6" id="CHAPTER_6"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i018.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 6." title="" width="700" height="360"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Pheasant Poaching.</h2> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i018_worda.png" width="248" height="49" alt="Through" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i018_wordb.png" width="79" height="31" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i018_wordc.png" width="138" height="23" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">late summer and autumn the +poacher's thoughts go out to the +early weeks of October. Neither +the last load of ruddy corn, nor the actual +netting of the partridge gladden his heart as +do the first signs of the dying year. There are +certain sections of the Game Laws which he +never breaks, and only some rare circumstance +tempts him to take immature birds. But by the +third week of October the yellow and sere of<a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"></a> +the year has come. The duns and browns are +over the woods, and the leaves come fitfully +flickering down. Everything out of doors +testifies that autumn is waning, and that winter +will soon be upon us. The colours of the few +remaining flowers are fading, and nature is beginning +to have a washed-out appearance. The +feathery plumes of the ash are everywhere +strewn beneath the trees, for, just as the ash is +the first to burst into leaf, so it is the first to +go. The foliage of the oak is already assuming +a bright chestnut, though the leaves +will remain throughout the year. In the oak +avenues the acorns are lying in great quantities, +though oak mast is not now the important +product it once was, cheap grain having +relegated it almost exclusively to the use of +the birds. And now immense flocks of wood +pigeons flutter in the trees or pick up the food +from beneath. The garnering of the grain, the +flocking of migratory birds, the wild clanging +of fowl in the night sky—these are the sights +and sounds that set the poacher's thoughts off +in the old grooves.<a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"></a></p> + +<div class="figright" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i019.png" border="0" alt="Two Men Fighting" title="" width="600" height="400"></div> + + +<p>Of all species of poaching, that which ensures +a good haul of pheasants is most beset +with difficulty. Nevertheless there are silent +ways and means which prove as successful in the +end as the squire's guns, and these without breaking +the woodland silence with a sound. The +most successful of these I intend to set down, +and only such will be mentioned as have stood +me in good stead in actual night work. Among +southern woods and coverts the pheasant +poacher is usually a desperate character; not +so in the north. Here +the poachers are +more skilled in +woodcraft, and +are rarely surprised. +If the +worst comes +to the +worst +it is a +fair +stand-up fight with fists, and is usually bloodless. +There is little greed of gain in the night<a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"></a> +enterprise, and liberty by flight is the first +thing resorted to.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i020.png" border="0" alt="Man Sprinkling Corn on the Ground" title="" width="480" height="700"></div> + +<p>It is well for the poacher, and well for his +methods, that the pheasant is rather a stupid +bird. There is no gainsaying its beauty, however, +and a brace of birds, with all the old +excitement thrown in, are well worth winning, +even at considerable risk. In a long life of +poaching I have noticed that the pheasant has +one great characteristic. It is fond of wandering; +and this cannot be prevented. Watch +the birds: even when fed daily, and with the +daintiest food, they wander off, singly or in +pairs, far from the home coverts. This fact I +knew well, and was not slow to use my +knowledge. When October came round they +were the very first birds to which I directed +my attention. Every poacher observes, year +by year (even leaving his own predaceous paws +out of the question), that it by no means follows +that the man who rears the pheasants will +have the privilege of shooting them. There is +a very certain time in the life of the bird +when it disdains the scattered corn of the<a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"></a> +keeper, and begins to anticipate the fall of +beech and oak mast. In search of this the +pheasants make daily journeys, and consume +great quantities. They feed principally in the +morning; dust themselves in the roads or +turnip-fields at mid-day, and ramble through the +woods in the afternoon. And one thing is +certain: That when wandered birds find +themselves in outlying copses in the evening +they are apt to roost there. As already +stated, these were the birds to which I paid +my best attention. When wholesale pheasant +poaching is prosecuted by gangs, it is in +winter, when the trees are bare. Guns, with +the barrels filed down, are taken in sacks, +and the pheasants are shot where they +roost. Their bulky forms stand sharply outlined +against the sky, and they are invariably +on the lower branches. If the firing does not +immediately bring up the keepers, the game +is quickly deposited in bags, and the gang +makes off. And it is generally arranged that +a light cart is waiting at some remote lane +end, so that possible pursuers may be quickly<a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"></a> +outpaced. The great risk incurred by this +method will be seen, when it is stated that +pheasants are generally reared close by the +keeper's cottage, and that their coverts immediately +surround it. It is mostly armed mouchers +who enter these, and not the +more gifted (save the mark!) +country poacher. And there +are reasons for this. Opposition +must always be anticipated, +for, speaking +for the nonce from the +game-keeper's standpoint, +the covert never +should be, and rarely +is, unwatched. Then +there are the certain results +of possible capture to +be taken into account. This +affected, and with birds in one's +possession, the poacher is liable +to be indicted upon so many concurrent charges, +each and all having heavy penalties. Than this +I obtained my game in a different and quieter<a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"></a> +way. My custom was to carefully eschew the +preserves, and look up all outlying birds. I never +went abroad without a pocketful of corn, and +day by day enticed the wandered birds further +and further away. This accomplished, pheasants +may be snared with hair nooses, or taken in +spring traps. One of my commonest and most +successful methods with wandered birds was to +light brimstone beneath the trees in which they +roosted. The powerful fumes soon overpowered +them, and they came flopping down the trees +one by one. This method has the advantage +of silence, and if the night be dead and still, +is rarely detected. Away from the preserves, +time was never taken into account in my +plans, and I could work systematically. I was +content with a brace of birds at a time, and +usually got most in the end, with least chance +of capture.</p> + + + +<p>I have already spoken at some length of my +education in field and wood-craft. An important +(though at the time unconscious) +part of this was minute observation of the +haunts and habits of all kinds of game; and<a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"></a> +this knowledge was put to good use in my +actual poaching raids. Here is an instance of +what I mean: I had noticed the great pugnacity +of the pheasant, and out of this made +capital. After first finding out the whereabouts +of the keeper, I fitted a trained +game-cock with artificial spurs, and then took +it to the covert side. The artificial spurs were +fitted to the natural ones, were sharp as +needles, and the plucky bird already knew +how to use them. Upon his crowing, one +or more cock pheasants would immediately +respond, and advance to meet the adversary. +A single blow usually sufficed to lay low the +pride of the pheasant, and in this way half-a-dozen +birds were bagged, whilst my own +representative remained unhurt.</p> + +<p>I had another ingenious plan (if I may say +so) in connection with pheasants, and, perhaps, +the most successful. I may say at once that +there is nothing sportsmanlike about it; but +then that is in keeping with most of what I +have set down. If time and opportunity offer +there is hardly any limit to the depredation<a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"></a> +which it allows. Here it is: A number of +dried peas are taken and steeped in boiling +water; a hole is then made through the centre, +and through this again a stiff bristle is threaded. +The ends are then cut off short, leaving only +about a quarter of an inch of bristle projecting +on each side. With these the birds are fed, +and they are greedily eaten. In passing down +the gullet, however, a violent irritation is +set up, and the pheasant is finally choked. +In a dying condition the birds are picked up +beneath the hedges, to the shelter of which +they almost always run. The way is a quiet +one; it may be adopted in roads and lanes +where the birds dust themselves, and does +not require trespass.</p> + +<p>In this connection I may say that I only +used a gun when every other method +failed. Game-keepers sometimes try to outwit +poachers by a device which is now of old +standing. Usually knowing from what quarter +the latter will enter the covert, wooden +blocks representing roosting birds are nailed +to the branches of the open beeches. I was<a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"></a> +never entrapped into firing at these dummies, +and it is only with the casual that the ruse +acts. He fires, brings the keepers from +their hiding places, and is caught. Still another +method of bagging "long-tails," though +one somewhat similar to that already set +down: It requires two persons, and the exact +position of the birds must be known. A black +night is necessary; a stiff bamboo rod, and a +dark lantern. One man flashes the concentrated +light upon the bare branches, when +immediately half a dozen necks are stretched +out to view the apparition. Just then the +"angler" slips a wire nooze over the craned +neck nearest him, and it is jerked down as +quickly, though as silently as possible. Number +two is served in like manner, then a third, +a fourth, and a fifth. This method has the +advantage of silence, though, if unskilfully +managed, sometimes only a single bird is +secured, and the rest flutter wildly off into +the darkness.</p> + +<p>Poachers often come to untimely ends. +Here is an actual incident which befell one<a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"></a> +of my companions—as clever a poacher, and +as decent and quiet a man as need be. I saw +him on the night previous to the morning of +his death, though he did not see me. It was +a night at the end of October. The winds +had stripped the leaves from the trees, and +the dripping branches stood starkly against the +sky. I was on the high road with a vehicle, +when plashes of rain began to descend, and a +low muttering came from out the dull leaden +clouds. As the darkness increased, occasional +flashes tore zig-zag across the sky, and the rain +set to a dead pour. The lightning only served +to increase the darkness. I could just see the +mare's steaming shoulders butting away in +front, and her sensitive ears alternately pricked +out on the track. The pitchy darkness increased, +I gave the mare her head, and let the +reins hang loosely on her neck. The lightning +was terrible, the thunder almost continuous, +when the mare came to a dead stop. I got +down from the trap and found her trembling +violently, with perspiration pouring down +her flanks. All her gear was white with<a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"></a><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"></a><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"></a> +lather, and I thought it best to lead her on +to where I knew was a chestnut tree, and +there wait for a lull in the storm. As I stood +waiting, a black lurcher slunk along under the +sodden hedge, and seeing the trap, immediately +stopped and turned in its tracks. Having warned +its master, the two reconnoitered and then +came on together. The "Otter" (for it was +he), bade a gruff "good-night" to the enshrouded +vehicle and passed on into the +darkness. He slouched rapidly under the +rain, and went in the direction of extensive +woods and coverts. Hundreds of pheasants +had taken to the tall trees, and, from beneath, +were visible against the sky. Hares abounded +on the fallows, and rabbits swarmed everywhere. +The storm had driven the keepers to +their cosy hearths, and the prospect was a +poacher's paradise. Just what occurred next +can only be surmised. Doubtless the "Otter" +worked long and earnestly through that terrible +night, and at dawn staggered from the ground +under a heavy load.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i021.png" border="0" alt="Trap and Driver at Night" title="" width="700" height="567"></div> + +<p><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"></a></p> + +<p>Just at dawn the poacher's wife emerged +from a poor cottage at the junction of the +roads, and after looking about her as a hunted +animal might look, made quietly off over the +land. Creeping closely by the fences she +covered a couple of miles, and then entered a +disused, barn-like building. Soon she emerged +under a heavy load, her basket, as of old, +covered with crisp, green cresses. These she +had kept from last evening, when she plucked +them in readiness, from the spring. After two or +three journeys she had removed the "plant," +and as she eyed the game her eyes glistened, +and she waited now only for <i>him</i>. As yet she +knew not that he would never more come—that +soon she would be a lone and heart-broken +creature. For, although his life was one long +warfare against the Game Laws, he had always +been good and kind to her. His end had +come as it almost inevitably must. The sound +of a heavy unknown footstep on his way home, +had turned him from his path. He had then +made back for the lime-kiln to obtain warmth +and to dry his sodden clothes. Once on the<a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"></a> +margin he was soon asleep. The fumes dulled +his senses, and in his restless sleep he had +rolled on to the stones. In the morning the +Limestone Burner coming to work found a +handful of pure white ashes. A few articles +were scattered about, and he guessed the rest.</p> + +<p>And so the "Otter" went to God.... The +storm cleared, and the heavens were calm. In +the sky, on the air, in the blades of grass were +signs of awakening life. Morning came bright +and fair, birds flew hither and thither, and the +autumn flowers stood out to the sun. All +things were glad and free, but one wretched +stricken thing.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"></a> +<a name="CHAPTER_7" id="CHAPTER_7"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i022.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 7." title="" width="700" height="408"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Salmon and Trout Poaching.</h2> + +<div class="poem" style="margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;"> +<span class="i0">Flashes the blood-red gleam<br></span> +<span class="i1">Over the midnight slaughter;<br></span> +<span class="i0">Wild shadows haunt the stream;<br></span> +<span class="i1">Dark forms glance o'er the water.<br></span> +<span class="i0">It is the leisterers' cry!<br></span> +<span class="i1">A salmon, ho! oho!<br></span> +<span class="i0">In scales of light, the creature bright<br></span> +<span class="i1">Is glimmering below.<br></span> +</div> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:0em;padding-top:0em;"><img src="images/spacer.png" border="0" alt="" title="" width="1" height="1"></div> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i022_worda.png" width="205" height="44" alt="Most" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i022_wordb.png" width="138" height="36" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i022_wordc.png" width="179" height="24" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">country poachers begin by loving +Nature and end by hating the Game +Laws. Whilst many a man is +willing to recognize "property" in hares and<a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"></a> +pheasants, there are few who will do so with +regard to salmon and trout. And this is why fish +poachers have always swarmed. A sea-salmon +is in the domain of the whole world +one day; in a trickling runner among the hills +the next. Yesterday it belonged to anybody; +and the poacher, rightly or wrongly, thinks it +belongs to him if only he can snatch it. There +are few fish poachers +who in their time +have not been anglers; +and anglers are of two +kinds: there are those +who fish fair, and those +who fish foul. The +first set +are philosophical +and +cultivate +patience: +the second +are +preda<a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"></a>tory +and catch fish, fairly if they can—but +they catch fish.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i023.png" border="0" alt="Boy Fishing" title="" width="586" height="600"></div> + +<p>Just as redwings and field-fares constitute +the first game of young gunners, so the loach, +the minnow, and the stickleback, are the prey +of the young poacher. If these things are +small, they are by no means to be despised, +for there is a tide in the affairs of men when +these "small fry" of the waters afford as +much sport on their pebbly shallows as do the +silvery-sided salmon in the pools of Strathspay. +As yet there is no knowledge of gaff or click +hook—only of a willow wand, a bit of string, +and a <a name="tn_png_95"></a><!--TN: "croocked" changed to "crooked"-->crooked pin. The average country +urchin has always a considerable dash of the +savage in his composition, and this first comes +out in relation to fish rather than fowl. See +him during summer as he wantons in the stream +like a dace. Watch where his brown legs +carry him; observe his stealthy movements as +he raises the likely stones; and note the primitive +poaching weapon in his hand. That old +pronged fork is every whit as formidable to the +loach and bullhead as is the lister of the man-<a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"></a>poacher +to salmon and trout—and the wader +uses it almost as skillfully. He has a bottle on +the bank, and into this he pours the fish unhurt +which he captures with his hands. Examine his +aquarium, and hidden among the weeds you +will find three or four species of small fry. +The loach, the minnow, and the bullhead are +sure to be there, with perhaps a tiny stickleback, +and somewhere, outside the bottle—stuffed +in cap or breeches pocket—crayfish of +every age and size. During a long life I have +watched the process, and this is the stuff out +of which fish-poachers are made.</p> + +<p>It is part of the wisdom of nature's economy +that when furred and feathered game is "out," +fish are "in." It might be thought that +poachers would recognize neither times nor +seasons, but this is a mistake. During fence +time game is nearly worthless; and then the +prospective penalties of poaching out of season +have to be taken into account. Fish poaching +is practised none the less for the high preservation +and strict watching which so much prevails +now-a-days; it seems even to have grown<a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"></a> +with them. In outlying country towns with +salmon and trout streams in the vicinity, +poaching is carried on to an almost incredible +extent. There are men who live by it and +women to whom it constitutes a thriving trade. +The "Otter," more thrifty than the rest of us, +has purchased a cottage with the proceeds of +his poaching; and I know four or five families +who live by it. Whilst our class provide the +chief business of the country police courts, and +is a great source of profit to the local fish and +game dealer, there is quite another and a +pleasanter side, to the picture. But this later. +The wary poacher never starts for the fishing +ground without having first his customer; and +it is surprising with what lax code of morals +the provincial public will deal, when the silent +night worker is one to the bargain. Of course +the public always gets cheap fish and fresh fish, +so fresh indeed that sometimes the life has +hardly gone out of it. It is a perfectly easy +matter to provide fish and the only difficulty lies +in conveying it into the towns and villages. I +never knew but what I might be met by some<a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"></a> +county constable, and consequently never +carried game upon me. This I secreted in +stack, rick, or disused farm building, until +such time as it could be safely fetched. Country +carriers, early morning milk-carts, and women +are all employed in getting the hauls into town. +In this women are by far the most successful. +Sometimes they are seen labouring under a +heavy load carried in a sack, with faggots and +rotten sticks protruding from the mouth; or +again, with a large basket innocently covered +with crisp, green cresses which effectually hide +the bright silvery fish beneath. Our methods +of fish poaching are many. As we work +silently and in the night, the chances of success +are all in our favour. We walk much by the +stream side during the day, and take mental +notes of men and fish. We know the beats +of the watchers, and have the water-side by +heart. Long use has accustomed us to work +as well in the dark as in the light, and +this is essential. During summer, when the +water is low, the fish congregate in deep +"dubs." This they do for protection, and<a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"></a> +here, if overhung by trees, there is always +abundance of food. Whenever it was our +intention to net a dub, we carefully examined +every inch of its bottom beforehand. If it had +been "thorned," every thorn was carefully +removed—small thorn bushes with stones +attached, and thrown in by the watchers to +entangle nets. Of course fish-poaching can +never be tackled single-handed. In "long-netting" +the net is dragged by a man on each +side, a third wading after to lift it over the +stakes, and to prevent the fish from escaping. +When the end of the pool is reached the +salmon and trout are simply drawn out upon +the pebbles. This is repeated through the +night until half-a-dozen pools are netted—probably +depopulated of their fish. Netting +of this description is a wholesale method of +capture, always supposing that we are allowed +our own time. It requires to be done slowly, +however, as if alarmed we can do nothing but +abandon the net. This is necessarily large, +and when thoroughly wet is cumbersome +and exceedingly heavy. The loss of one of<a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"></a><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"></a><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"></a> +our large nets was a serious matter, not only in +time but money. For narrow streams, a narrow +net is used, this being attached to two poles. +It is better to cut the poles (of ash) only when +required, as they are awkward objects to carry. +The method of working the "pod-net" is the +same in principle as the last. The older fish +poachers rarely go in for poisoning. This is a +cowardly method, and kills everything, both +great and small, for miles down stream. +Chloride of lime is the agent mostly used, as +it does not injure the edible parts. The lime +is thrown into the river where fish are known +to lie, and its deadly influence is soon seen. +The fish, weakened and poisoned, float belly +uppermost. This at once renders them conspicuous, +and they are simply lifted out of the +water in a landing-net. Salmon and trout +which come by their death in this way have the +usually pink parts of a dull white, with the +eyes and gill-covers of the same colour, and +covered with a fine white film. This substance +is much used in mills on the banks of trout-streams, +and probably more fish are "poached"<a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"></a> +by this kind of pollution in a month than the +most inveterate moucher will kill in a year.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i024.png" border="0" alt="Longnetting" title="" width="700" height="459"></div> + +<p>It is only poachers of the old school that +are careful to observe close times, and they do +their work mostly in summer. Many of the +younger and more desperate hands, however, +do really serious business when the fish are out +of season. When salmon and trout are spawning +their senses seem to become dulled, and then +they are not difficult to approach in the water. +They seek the highest reaches to spawn and stay +for a considerable time on the spawning beds. +A salmon offers a fair mark, and these are obtained +by spearing. The pronged salmon spear +is driven into the fleshy shoulders of the fish, +when it is hauled out on to the bank. In this +way I have often killed more fish in a single day +than I could possibly carry home—even when +there was little or no chance of detection. +There is only one practicable way of carrying +a big salmon across country on a dark night, +and that is by hanging it round one's neck and +steadying it in front. I have left tons of fish +behind when chased by the watchers, as of all<a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"></a><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"></a><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"></a> +things they are the most difficult to carry. The +best water bailiffs are those who are least seen, +or who watch from a distance. So as to save +sudden surprise, and to give timely warning +of the approach of watchers, one of the +poaching party should always command the +land from a tree top.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i025.png" border="0" alt="Man Spearing a Salmon" title="" width="700" height="514"></div> + + +<p>The flesh of spawning fish is loose and watery, +insipid and tasteless, and rarely brings more +than a few pence per pound. In an out-lying +hamlet known to me, poached salmon, during +last close time, was so common that the cottagers +fed their poultry upon it through the winter. +Several fish were killed each over 20 lbs. in +weight. Than netting, another way of securing +salmon and trout from the spawning redds is by +"click" hooks. These are simply large salmon +hooks bound shaft to shaft and attached to a +long cord; a bit of lead balances them and +adds weight. These are used in the "dubs" +when spearing by wading is impracticable. +When a salmon is seen the hooks are simply +thrown beyond it, then gently dragged until +they come immediately beneath; when a<a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"></a> +sharp click sends them into the soft under +parts of the fish, which is then dragged out. +As the pike, which is one of nature's poachers, +is injurious to our interests as well as those of +the angler, we never miss an opportunity of +treating him in the same summary manner. +Of course, poaching with click-hooks requires +to be done during the day, or by the aid of an +artificial light. Light attracts salmon just as it +attracts birds, and tar brands are frequently +used by poachers. A good, rough bulls-eye +lantern, to aid in spearing, can be made +from a disused salmon canister. A circular +hole should be made in the side, and a bit of +material tied over to hide the light when not in +use. Shooting is sometimes resorted to, but +for this class of poaching the habits and beats +of the water bailiffs require to be accurately +known. The method has the advantage of +quickness, and a gun in skilful hands and at +short distance may be used without injuring +the fleshy parts of the fish. That deadly bait, +salmon row, is now rarely used, the method of +preparing it being unknown to the younger<a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"></a> +generation. It can, however, be used with +deadly effect. Although both ourselves and +our nets were occasionally captured, the +watchers generally found this a difficult matter. +In approaching our fishing grounds we did +not mind going sinuously and snake-like +through the wet meadows, and as I have said, +our nets were rarely kept at home. These +were secreted in stone heaps, and among bushes +in close proximity to where we intended to use +them. Were they kept at home the obtaining +of a search warrant by the police or local<a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"></a> +Angling Association would always render their +custody a critical business. When, upon any +rare occasion, the nets were kept at home, it was +only for a short period, and when about to be +used. Sometimes, though rarely, the police +have discovered them secreted in the chimney, +between bed and mattrass, or, in one case, +wound about the portly person of a poacher's +wife. As I have already said, the women are +not always simply aiders and abettors, but +in the actual poaching sometimes play an +important part. They have frequently been +taken red-handed by the watchers. Mention of +the water-bailiffs reminds me that I must say a +word of them too. Their profession is a hard +one—harder by far than the poacher's. They +work at night, and require to be most on the +alert during rough and wet weather; especially +in winter when fish are spawning. Sometimes +they must remain still for hours in +freezing clothes; and even in summer not +unfrequently lie all night in dank and wet +herbage. They see the night side of nature, +and many of them are as good naturalists as<a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"></a> +the poachers. If a lapwing gets up and +screams in the darkness the cleverer of them +know how to interpret the sound, as also a +hare rushing wildly past. I must add, however, +that it is in the nature of things that at all points +the fish poacher is cleverer and of readier wit +than the river watcher.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i026.png" border="0" alt=""Going sinuously and snake-like +through the wet meadows"" title="" width="700" height="393"></div> + +<div class="figright" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i027.png" border="0" alt="Poacher Presenting Salmon to Constable" title="" width="615" height="700"></div> +<p>Looking back it does +not seem long +since county +constables first +became an institution +in this part +of the country. +I remember an +amusing incident +connected with +one of them who +was evidently a +stranger to many +of the phases of +woodcraft. We +had been netting a deep dub just below a stone +bridge, and were about to land a splendid haul.<a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"></a> +Looking up, a constable was watching our +operations in an interested sort of way, and for +a moment we thought we were fairly caught. +Just as we were about to abandon the net and +make off through the wood, the man spoke. +In an instant I saw how matters stood. He +failed to grasp the situation—even came down +and helped us to draw the net on to the bank. +In thanking us for a silvery five-pound salmon +we gave him he spoke with a southern +accent, and I suppose that poachers and +poaching were subjects that had never entered +into his philosophy.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"></a> + +<a name="CHAPTER_8" id="CHAPTER_8"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i028.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 8." title="" width="700" height="318"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Grouse Poaching.</h2> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i028_worda.png" width="153" height="58" alt="For" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i028_wordb.png" width="84" height="45" alt="" title=""> +</div> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">pleasurable excitement, to say nothing +of profit, the pick of all poaching +is for grouse. However fascinating +partridge poaching may be; however pleasurable +picking off pheasants from bare boughs; +or the night-piercing screams of a netted hare—none +of these can compare with the wild +work of the moors. I am abroad on the heather +just before the coming of the day. My way lies +now along the rugged course of a fell "beck,"<a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"></a> +now along the lower shoulder of the mountain. +The grey dissolves into dawn, the dawn into +light, and the first blackcock crows to his grey +hen in the hollow. As my head appears above +the burn side, the ever-watchful curlews whistle +and the plovers scream. A dotterel goes +plaintively piping over the stones, and the +"cheep, cheep," of the awakening ling-birds +rises from every brae. A silent tarn lies shimmering +in a green hollow beneath, and over its +marge constantly flit a pair of summer snipe. +The bellowing of red deer comes from a +neighbouring corrie, and a herd of roe are +browsing on the confines of the scrub. The +sun mounts the Eastern air, drives the mists +away and beyond the lichen patches loved by +the ptarmigan—and it is day.</p> + +<p>A glorious bird is the red grouse! Listen +to his warning "kok, kok, kok," as he eyes the +invader of his moorland haunts. Now that it +is day his mate joins him on the "knowe." +The sun warms up his rufus plumage, and the +crescent-shaped patch of vermilion over the +eye glows in the strong light. It is these<a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"></a> +sights and sounds that warm me to my work, +and dearly I love the moor-game. Years ago +I had sown grain along the fell-side so as to +entice the grouse within range of an old flint-lock +which I used with deadly effect from +behind a stone wall. Then snares were set on +the barley sheaves and corn stooks, by which a +brace of birds were occasionally bagged. In +after years an unforseen grouse harvest came +in quite an unexpected manner. With the +enclosure of the Commons hundreds of miles of +wire fencing was erected, and in this way, +before the birds had become accustomed to it, +numbers were killed by flying against the<a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"></a> +fences. The casualties mostly occurred during +"thick" weather, or when the mists had +clung to the hills for days. At such times +grouse fly low, and strike before seeing the +obstacle. I never failed to note the mist-caps +hanging to the fell-tops, and then, bag in +hand, walked parallel to miles and miles of +flimsy fence. Sometimes a dozen brace of +birds were picked up in a morning; and, on the +lower grounds, an occasional partridge, woodcock, +or snipe.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i029.png" border="0" alt="Poacher with Grouse by Wire Fence" title="" width="700" height="403"></div> + + +<p>Grouse are the only game that ever tempted +me to poach during close time, and then I only +erred by a few days. Birds sold in London on +the morning of the "Twelfth" bring the biggest +prices of the season, and to supply the +demand was a temptation I could never resist. +Many a "Squire," many a Country Justice +has been tempted as I was, and fell as I fell. +It is not too much to say that every one of the +three thousand birds sold in London on the +opening day has been poached during the +"fence" time. In the north, country station-masters +find hampers dropped on their plat<a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"></a>forms +addressed to London dealers, but, as to +who brought them, or how they came there, +none ever knows.</p> + +<p>The only true prophet of the grouse-moors +is the poacher. Months before the "squire" +and keeper he knows whether disease will +assert itself or no. By reason of his out-door +life he has accuracy of eye and judgment sufficient +to interpret what he sees aright. He is +abroad in all weathers, and through every +hour of the day and night. His clothes have +taken on them the duns and browns of +the moorlands; and he owns the subtle influence +which attracts wild creatures to +him. He has watched grouse "at home" +since the beginning of the year. On the first +spring day the sun shines brightly at noon. +The birds bask on the brae, and spread their +wings to the warmth. As the sun gains in +power, and spring comes slowly up the way, +the red grouse give out gurgling notes, and +indulge in much strutting. The fell "becks" +sparkles in the sun; the merlin screams over +the heather, and the grouse packs break up.<a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"></a> +The birds are now seen singly or in pairs, and +brae answers brae from dawn till dark. The +cock grouse takes his stand on some grey rock, +and erects or depresses at pleasure his vermilion +eye-streak. Pairing is not long continued, +and the two find out a depression in +the heather which they line with bents and +mountain grasses. About eight eggs are laid, +and the cock grouse takes his stand upon the +"knowe" to guard the nest from predaceous +carrion and hooded crows. If hatching is +successful the young birds are quickly on their +legs, and through spring and summer follow +the brooding birds. They grow larger and +plumper each day, until it is <a name="tn_png_117"></a><!--TN: "difficut" changed to "difficult"-->difficult to detect +them from the adult. Meanwhile August has +come, and soon devastating death is dealt out +to them. The sport, so far as the poacher is +concerned, begins at the first rolling away of +the morning mists; and then he often makes +the best bag of the year. It was rarely that I +was abroad later than two in the morning, and +my first business was to wade out thigh-deep +into the purple heather. From such a position<a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"></a> +it is not difficult to locate the crowing of the +moorbirds as they answer each other across the +heather. When this was done I would gain +a rough stone wall, and then, by imitating the +gurgling call-notes of cock or hen I could +bring up every grouse within hearing. Sometimes +a dozen would be about me at one time. +Then the birds were picked off as they flew +over the knolls and braes, or as they boldly +stood on any eminence near. If this method +is deadly in early August, it is infinitely more +so during pairing time. Then, if time and +leisure be allowed, and the poacher is a +good "caller," almost every bird on a moor +may be bagged.</p> + +<p>The greatest number of grouse, and consequently +the best poaching, is to be had on +moors on which the heather is regularly burned. +Grouse love the shoots of ling which spring up +after burning, and the birds which feed upon this +invariably have the brightest plumage. On a +well-burnt moor the best poaching method is +by using a silk net. By watching for traces +during the day it is not difficult to detect<a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"></a> +where the birds roost, and once this is discovered +the rest is easy. The net is trailed +along the ground by two men, and dropped instantly +on the whirr of wings. The springing +of the birds is the only guide in the darkness, +though the method skilfully carried out is most +destructive, and sometimes a whole covey <a name="tn_png_119"></a><!--TN: "is is" changed to "is"-->is +bagged at one sweep. Silk nets have three +good qualities for night work, those made of +any other material being cumbersome and +nearly useless. They are light, strong, and +are easily carried. It is well to have about +eighteen inches of glazed material along the +bottom of the net, or it is apt to catch in +dragging. Where poaching is practised, keepers +often place in the likeliest places a number of +strong stakes armed with protruding nails. +These, however, may be removed and replanted +after the night's work; or, just at dusk +a bunch of white feathers may be tied to point +the position of each.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i030.png" border="0" alt="Bagging a Covey with a Silk Net" title="" width="700" height="415"></div> + + +<p>The planting of grain patches along the +moor-side has been mentioned, and on these in +late autumn great numbers of birds are bagged.<a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"></a><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"></a><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"></a> +Grouse are exceedingly fond of oats, and in +the early morning the stooks are sometimes +almost black with them. A pot shot here +from behind a wall or fence is generally a +profitable one, as the heavy charge of shot is +sent straight at the "brown." Black-game +are as keen as red grouse on oats, and a few +sheaves thrown about always attracts them. +Although the blackcock is a noble bird in +appearance, he is dull and heavy, and is easily +bagged. Early in the season the birds lie +until almost trod upon, and of all game are the +easiest to net. They roost on the ground, and +usually seek out some sheltered brae-side +on which to sleep. If closely watched at +evening, it is not difficult to clap a silk net +over them upon the first favourable night, +when both mother and grown young are +bagged together. That there are gentlemen +poachers as well as casuals and amateurs, the +following incident relating to black-game +shows: "On a dull misty day they are easily +got at: they will sit on the thorn bushes +and alders, and let the shooter pick them off<a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"></a> +one by one. I remember once, on such a day, +taking a noble sportsman who was very keen +to shoot a blackcock, up to some black game +sitting on a thorn hedge. When he got within +about twenty-five yards he fired his first barrel +(after taking a very deliberate aim) at an old +grey hen. She took no notice, only shaking +her feathers a little, and hopping a short distance +further on. The same result with the +second barrel. He loaded again and fired. +This time the old hen turned round, and +looked to see where the noise and unpleasant +tickling sensation came from, and grew uneasy; +the next attempt made her fly on to where +her companions were sitting, and our friend +then gave up his weapon to me in despair. +Black game grow very stupid also when on +stubbles; they will let a man fire at them, and +if they do not see him, will fly round the field +and settle again, or pitch on a wall quite near +to him. Grouse will do the same thing. +There is not much 'sport' in such shooting +as this, but when out alone, and wanting to +make a bag, it is a sure and quick way to do<a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"></a> +so. It may be called 'poaching'—all I can +say is, there would be many more gentlemen +poachers if they could obtain such chances, +and could not get game in any other way."</p> + +<p>Both grouse and black game may frequently +be brought within range by placing a dead or +stuffed bird on a rock or a stone wall. A +small forked stick is made to support the head +and neck of the decoy "dummy," which, if +there are birds in the vicinity, soon attracts +them. As a rule the lure is not long successful, +but sufficiently so as to enable the +poacher to make a big bag. Upon one occasion +I made a remarkable addition to our +fur and feather. In the darkness a movement +was heard among the dense branches of a +Scotch fir, when, looking up, a large bird which +seemed as big as a turkey commenced to +flutter off. It was stopped before it had flown +many yards, and proved to be a handsome +cock Capercailzie in splendid plumage. Had I +been certain as to what it was I certainly +should not have fired.<a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"></a></p> + +<p>Grouse stalking is fascinating sport, and by +this method I usually made my greatest +achievements. The stalking was mainly done +from behind an old moorland horse, with +which I had struck up an acquaintance; and it +learned to stand fire like a war veteran. I +used to think it enjoyed the sport, and I +believe it did. With the aid of my shaggy +friend I have successfully stalked hundreds +of grouse, as its presence seemed to allay both +fear and suspicion. Firing over its back, its +neck, or beneath its belly—all were taken +alike, patiently and sedately. An occasional +handful of oats, or half a loaf, cemented the +friendship of the old horse—my best and most +constant poaching companion for years.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"></a> + +<a name="CHAPTER_9" id="CHAPTER_9"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i031.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 9." title="" width="700" height="325"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Rabbit Poaching.</h2> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i031_worda.png" width="96" height="45" alt="If" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i031_wordb.png" width="70" height="58" alt="" title=""> +</div> + +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">well trained lurchers are absolutely +necessary to hare poaching, ferrets are +just as important to successful rabbit +poaching. Nearly nothing in fur can be done +without them. However lucky the moucher +may be among pheasants, partridge, or grouse, +rabbits are and must be the chief product of +his nights. Of the methods of obtaining +them—field netting, well-traps, shooting—all +are as nothing compared with silent ferreting.</p> + +<p>In the north we have two well-defined +varieties of ferret—one a brown colour and<a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"></a> +known as the polecat-ferret; the other, the +common white variety. The first is the hardier, +and it is to secure this quality that poachers +cross their ferrets with the wild polecat. Unlike +lurchers, ferrets require but little training, and +seem to work instinctively. There are various +reasons why poachers prefer white ferrets +to the polecat variety. At night a brown +ferret is apt to be nipped up in mistake for a +rabbit; while a white one is always apparent, +even when moving among the densest herbage. +Hence mouchers invariably use white ones. +Gamekeepers who know their business prefer +ferrets taken from poachers to any other. I +was always particularly careful in selecting +my stock, as from the nature of my trade I +could ill afford to use bad ones. Certain +strains of ferrets cause rabbits to bolt rapidly, +while others are slow and sluggish. It need +hardly be said that I always used the former. +Even the best, however, will sometimes drive +a rabbit to the end of a "blind" burrow; <a name="tn_png_127"></a><!--TN: "an" changed to "and"-->and +after killing it will not return until it <a name="tn_png_127a"></a><!--TN: "ha" changed to "has"-->has +gorged itself with blood. And more <a name="tn_png_127b"></a><!--TN: "troub" changed to "trouble"-->trouble<a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"></a> +is added if the ferret curls itself up for an after-dinner +sleep. Then it has either to be left or +dug out. The latter process is long, the burrows +ramify far into the mound, and it is not just +known in which the ferret remains. If it +be left it is well to bar every hole with +stones, and then return with a dead rabbit when +hunger succeeds the gorged sleep. It is to +guard against such occasions as these that +working ferrets are generally muzzled. A +cruel practise used to obtain among poachers +of stitching together the lips of ferrets to prevent +their worrying rabbits and then "laying +up." For myself I made a muzzle of soft string +which was effective, and at the same time comfortable +to wear. When there was a chance +of being surprised at night work I occasionally +worked ferrets with a line attached; but this is +an objectionable practice and does not always +answer. There may be a root or stick in which +the line gets entangled, when there will be +digging and no end of trouble to get the ferret +out. From these facts, and the great uncertainty +of ferreting, it will be understood why poachers<a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"></a> +can afford to use only the best animals. A +tangled hedgebank with coarse herbage was +<a name="tn_png_129"></a><!--TN: "alwasy" changed to "always"-->always a favourite spot for my depredations. +There are invariably two, often half a dozen +holes, to the same burrow. Small purse nets +are spread over these, and I always preferred +these loose to being pegged or fixed in any +way. When all the nets are set the ferrets are +turned in. They do not proceed immediately, +but sniff the mouth of the hole; their indecision +is only momentary, however, for soon +the tip of the tail disappears in the darkness. +And now silence is essential to success, as +rabbits refuse to bolt if there is the slightest +noise outside. A dull thud, a rush, and a +rabbit goes rolling over and over entangled in +the purse. Reserve nets are quickly clapped on +the holes as the rabbits bolt, the latter invariably +being taken except where a couple come +together. Standing on the mound a shot would +stop these as they go bounding through the +dead leaves, but the sound would bring up the +keeper, and so one has to practise self-denial. +Unlike hares, rabbits rarely squeal when they<a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"></a> +become entangled; and this allows one to +ferret long and silently. Rabbits bolt best on +a windy day and before noon; after that they +are sluggish and often refuse to come out at all. +This is day ferreting, but of course mine was +done mainly at night. In this case the dogs +always ranged the land, and drove everything off +it before we commenced operations. On good +ground a mound or brae sometimes seemed to +explode with rabbits, so wildly did they fly +before their deadly foe. I have seen a score +driven from one set of holes, while five +or six couples is not at all uncommon. When +ferrets are running the burrows, stoats and +weasels are occasionally driven out; and among +other strange things unearthed I remember a +brown owl, a stock-dove, and a shell-drake—each +of which happened to be breeding in the +mounds.</p> + +<div class="figright" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i032.png" border="0" alt="Man with Lurcher" title="" width="600" height="394"></div> + + +<p>The confines of a large estate constitute a +poacher's paradise, for although partridge and +grouse require land suited to their taste, rabbits +and pheasants are common to all preserved +ground. And then the former may be taken<a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"></a> +at any time, and in so many different ways. +They are abundant, too, and always find a +ready market. The penalties attached to rabbit +poaching are less than those of game, and the +conies need not be followed into closely +preserved coverts. The extermination of the +rabbit will be contemporaneous with that of +the lurcher and poacher—two institutions of +village life which date back to the time of the +New Forest. Of the many mouching modes +for taking conies, ferretting, as already stated, +and field netting are the most common. Traps +with steel jaws are sometimes set in runs, +inserted in the turf so as to bring them +flush with the sward. But destruction by this +method is not sufficiently wholesale, and the +upturned white under-parts of the rabbit's fur +show too plainly against the green. The +poacher's methods must be quick, and he cannot +afford to visit by day traps set in the dark. +The night must cover all his doings. When +the unscrupulous keeper finds a snare he sometimes +puts a leveret into it, and secretes himself. +Then he waits, and captures the poacher "in<a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"></a> +the act." As with some other methods already +mentioned, the trap poacher is only a casual. +Ferretting is silent and almost invariably +successful. In warrens, both inequalities of +the ground, +mounds, and +ditches afford +good +cover. +My best +and most +wholesale +method of field-poaching for rabbits was by +means of two long nets. These are from a hundred +to a hundred and fifty yards in length, and +about four feet high. They are usually made of +silk, and are light and strong, and easily +portable. These are set parallel to each other +along the edge of a wood, about thirty<a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"></a> +yards out into the pasture. Only about four +inches divides the nets. A dark windy night +is best for the work, as in such weather +rabbits feed far out in the fields. On a night +of this character, too, the game neither hears +nor sees the poacher. The nets are long—the +first small in mesh, that immediately behind +large. When a rabbit or hare strikes, the +impetus takes a part of the first net and its +contents through the larger mesh of the second, +and there, hanging, the creature struggles until +it is knocked on the head with a stick. Immediately +the nets are set, two men and a +brace of lurchers range the ground in front, +slowly and patiently, and gradually drive +every feeding thing woodwards. A third man +quietly paces the sward behind the nets, killing +whatever strikes them. In this way I have +taken many scores of rabbits in a single +night. On the confines of a large estate a rather +clever trick was once played upon us. Each +year about half-a-dozen black or white rabbits +were turned down into certain woods. Whilst +feeding, these stood out conspicuously from the<a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"></a> +rest, and were religiously preserved. Upon +these the keepers kept a close watch, and when +any were missing it was suspected what was +going on, when the watching strength was +increased. As soon as we detected the trick, +we were careful to let the coloured rabbits go +free. We found that it was altogether to our +interest to preserve them.</p> + +<p>During night poaching for rabbits and hares +the ground game is driven from its feeding +ground to the woods or copses. Precisely the +reverse method is employed during the day +when the game is in cover. The practice +is to find a spinny in which both rabbits and +hares are known to lie; and then to set purse +nets on the outside of every opening which +may possibly be used by the frightened animals. +The smaller the wood or patch of cover the +easier it is to work. A man, with or without +a dog, enters the covert, and his presence soon +induces the furry denizens to bolt. As these +rush through their customary runs they find +themselves in the meshes of a net, and every +struggle only makes them faster. This method<a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"></a> +has the disadvantage of being done in the light, +but where there is much game is very deadly.</p> + +<p>Snares for hares and rabbits are not used +nearly so much now as formerly. For all that, +they are useful in outlying districts, or on land +that is not closely watched. For hares the +snare is a wire noose tied to a stick with string, +and placed edgeways in the trod. To have the +snare the right height is an important matter; +and it will be found that two fists high for a +hare, and one for a rabbit, is the most deadly. +Casuals set their snares in hedge-bottoms, +but these are no good. Two or three feet +away from the hedge is the most killing position—for +this reason: when a hare canters up +to a fence it never immediately bounds +through; it pauses about a yard away, then +leaps into the hedge-bottom. It is during +this last leap that it puts its neck into the +noose and is taken. If a keeper merely +watches a snare until it is "lifted," good and +well; but to put a hare or rabbit into it and +then pounce on the moucher—well, that is a +different matter. It is not difficult to see where<a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"></a> +a hare has been taken, especially if the run in +which the snare was set was damp. There +will be the hole where the peg has been, and +the ground will be beaten flat by the struggles +of the animal in endeavouring to free itself.</p> + +<p>Field-netting for rabbits may be prevented +in the same way as for partridges—by thorning +the ground where the game feeds. It is quite +a mistake to plant thorns, or even to stake out +large branches. The only ones that at all +trouble the poacher are small thorns which are +left absolutely free on the ground. These get +into the net, roll it up hopelessly in a +short time, and if this once occurs everything +escapes. Large thorns are easily seen and +easily removed, but the abominable ones are +the small ones left loose on the surface of the +ground.</p> + +<p>The most certain and wholesale method of +rabbit poaching I ever practised was also the +most daring. The engine employed was the +"well-trap." This is a square, deep box, built +into the ground, and immediately opposite to +a smoot-hole in the fence through which the<a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"></a> +rabbits run from wood or covert to field or +pasture. Through a hole in the wall or fence +a wooden trough or box is inserted. As +the rabbits run through, the floor opens beneath +their weight, and they drop into the +"well." Immediately the pressure is removed +the floor springs back to its original position, and +thus a score or more rabbits are often taken +in a single night. In the construction of these +"well-traps," rough and unbarked wood is +used, though, even after this precaution, the +rabbits will not take them for weeks. Then, +they become familiar; the weather washes +away all scent, and the "well" is a wholesale +engine of destruction. All surface traces +of the existence of the trap must be +covered over with dead leaves and woodland +debris. The rabbits, of course, are taken alive, +and the best way of killing them is by +stretching them across the knee, and so dislocating +the spine. If the keeper once finds out +the trap the game is up. Whilst it lasts, however, +it kills more rabbits than every other +stroke of woodcraft the poacher knows.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"></a> + +<a name="CHAPTER_10" id="CHAPTER_10"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i033.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 10." title="" width="700" height="389"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Tricks.</h2> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i007_worda.png" width="236" height="60" alt="When" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i007_wordb.png" width="118" height="43" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">it is known that a man's life is +one long protest against the Game +Laws he has to be exceedingly careful +of his comings and goings. Every constable, +every gamekeeper, and most workers in woodcraft +are aware of the motives which bring him +abroad at night. More eyes are upon him<a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"></a> +than he sees, and no one knows better than +he that the enemies most to be feared +are those who are least seen; and the man +who has tasted the bitterness of poaching +penalties will do everything in his power to +escape detection. Probably the greatest aid +to this end is knowing the country by heart; +the field-paths and disused bye-ways, the +fordable parts of the river, and a hundred +things beside. The poacher is and must be +suspicious of everyone he meets.</p> + +<p>In planning and carrying out forays I was +always careful to observe two conditions. No +poaching secret was ever confided to another; +and I invariably endeavoured to get to the +ground unseen. If my out-going was observed +it often entailed a circuit of a dozen miles in +coming home, and even then the entry into +town was not without considerable risk. The +hand of everyone was against me in my +unlawful calling, and many were the shifts I +had to make to escape detection or capture. +To show with what success this may be carried +out, the following incident will show.<a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i034.png" border="0" alt="Donkey with Panniers" title="" width="700" height="524"></div> + + +<p>I conceived the idea of openly shooting +certain well-stocked coverts during the temporary +absence of the owner. These were so +well watched that all the ordinary measures at +night seemed likely to be baffled. To openly +shoot during broad day, and under the very +eye of the keeper, was now the essential part +of the programme; and to this end I must +explain as follows: The keeper on the estate +was but lately come to the district. Upon +two occasions when I had been placed in the +dock, I had been described as "a poacher of +gentlemanly appearance," and "the gentleman +poacher again." (My forefathers had been +small estatesmen for generations, and I suppose +that some last lingering air of gentility attached +to me). Well, I had arranged with a +confederate to act as bag carrier; he was to +be very servile, and not to forget to touch +his cap at pretty frequent intervals. After +"making up" as a country squire—(I had +closely studied the species on the <a name="tn_png_140"></a><!--TN: Comma removed after "Bench"-->"Bench")—and +providing a luncheon in keeping with my +temporary "squiredom," we started for the<a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"></a> +woods. It was a bright morning in the last +week of October, and game—hares, pheasants, +and woodcock—was exceedingly plentiful. +The first firing brought up the keeper, who +touched his hat in the most respectful fashion. +He behaved, in short, precisely as I would +have had him behave. I lost no time on +quietly congratulating him on the number and +quality of his birds; told him that his master +would return from town to-morrow (which +I had learned incidentally), and ended by +handing him my cartridge bag to carry. A +splendid bag of birds had been made by luncheon +time, and the viands which constituted +the meal were very much in keeping with my +assumed position. Dusk came at the close of +the short October afternoon, and with it the +end of our day's sport. The bag was spread +out in one of the rides of the wood, and in +imagination I can see it now—thirty-seven +pheasants, nine hares, five woodcock, a few +rabbits, some cushats, and the usual "miscellaneous." +The man of gaiters was despatched +a couple of miles for a cart to carry the spoil,<a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"></a> +and a substantial "tip" gave speed to his not +unwilling legs. The game, however, was not +to occupy the cart. A donkey with panniers +was waiting in a clump of brush by the covert +side, and as soon as the panniers were packed, +its head was turned homeward over a wild bit +of moorland. With the start obtained, chase +would have been fruitless had it ever been +contemplated—which it never was. I need +not detail the sequel to the incident here, and<a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"></a> +may say that it was somewhat painful to myself +as well as my bag carrier. And I am sorry to +say that the keeper was summarily dismissed +by the enraged squire as a reward for his innocence. +As to the coverts, they were so well +stocked, that after a few days' rest there +appeared as much game as ever, and the +contents of our little bag were hardly +missed.</p> + +<div class="figleft" style="padding-bottom:.3em;padding-top:.3em;"><img src="images/i035.png" border="0" alt="Attired like a Quaker" title="" width="390" height="700"></div> + +<p>Another trick to which my co-worker +used to resort was to +attire himself in broad-brimmed +hat and black coat similar +to those worn a century +ago by the people called +Quakers. In the former he +carried his nets, and in the capacious +pockets of the latter the game +he took. These outward guarantees of +good faith, away from his own parish, +precluded him from ever once being +searched. I have already remarked, +and every practical poacher knows +it to be the fact, that the difficulty is<a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"></a> +not so much to obtain game as to transport it +safely home. Although our dogs were trained +to run on a hundred yards in advance so as to +give warning of the approach of a possible +enemy—even this did not always save us. A +big bag of game handicaps one severely in a +cross-country run, and it is doubly galling to +have to sacrifice it. Well, upon the particular +occasion to which I refer there was to be a +country funeral with a hearse from the neighbouring +market town, and of this I was +determined to take advantage. By arranging +with the driver I was enabled to stow myself +and a large haul in the body of the vehicle, and, +although the journey was a cramped and stuffy +one, we in time reached our destination. As +we came behind the nearest game shop the +driver undid the door, and the questionable +corpse was safely landed.</p> + +<p>I need hardly say that in a long life of +poaching there were many occasions when I +was brought to book. These, however, would +form but a small percentage of the times I was +"out." My success in this way was probably<a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"></a> +owing to the fact that I was chary as to those +I took into confidence, and knew that above +all things keeping my own council was the +best wisdom. Another moucher I knew, +but with whom I would have nothing to +do, was an instance of one who told poaching +secrets to village gossips. The "Mole" spent +most of <i>his</i> time in the county gaol, and just +lately he completed his sixty-fifth incarceration—only +a few of which were for offences outside +the game laws. Well, there came a time +when all the keepers round the country side +had their revenge on me, and they made the +most of it. I and my companion were fairly +caught by being driven into an ambuscade by +a combination of keepers. Exultant in my capture, +the keepers from almost every estate in +the neighbourhood flocked to witness my conviction. +Some of them who had at times only +seen a vanishing form in the darkness, now +attended to see the man, as they put it. As I +had always been followed at nights by an old +black bitch, she, too, was produced in court, +and proved an object of much curiosity. Well,<a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"></a> +our case was called, and, as we had no good +defence to set up, it was agreed that my companion +should do the talking. Without letting +it appear so, we had a very definite object in +prolonging the hearing of the case. There was +never any great inclination to hurry such +matters, as the magistrates always seemed to +enjoy them. "We had been taken in the act," +my co-worker told the bench. "We deserved +no quarter, and asked none. Poaching was +right by the Bible, but wrong by the law,"—and +so he was rushing on. One of the Justices +deigned to remark that it was a question of +"property" not morality. "Oh!" rejoined +the "Otter," "because blue blood doesn't run<a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"></a> +in my veins that's no reason why I shouldn't +have my share. But <a name="tn_png_147"></a><!--TN: "its" changed to "it's"-->it's a queer kind of +property that's yours in that field, mine on the +turnpike, and a third man's over the next +fence." The end of it was, however, a fine of +£5, with an alternative. And so the case +ended. But that day the keepers and their +assistants had forgotten the first principles of +watching. The best keeper is the one that is +the least seen. Only let the poacher know his +whereabouts, and the latter's work is easy. It +was afterwards remarked that during our trial +not a poacher was in court. To any keeper +skilled in his craft this fact must have appeared +unusual—and significant. It became even more +so when both of us were released by reason of +our heavy fine having been paid the same +evening. Most of the keepers had had their +day out, and were making the most of it. +Had their heads not been muddled they might +have seen more than one woman labouring +under loaded baskets near the local game +dealers; these innocently covered with mantling +cresses, and so, at the time, escaping<a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"></a> +suspicion. Upon the memorable day the +pheasants had been fed by unseen hands—and +had vanished. The only traces left by the +covert side were fluffy feathers everywhere. +Few hares remained on the land; the rest had +either been snared or netted at the gates. The +rabbits' burrows had been ferreted, the ferrets +having been slyly borrowed at the keeper's +cottage during his absence for the occasion. I +may say that, in connection with this incident, +we always claimed to poach square, and drew +the line at home-reared pheasants—allowing +them "property." Those found wild in the +woods were on a different footing, and we directed +our whole knowledge of woodcraft +against them.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i036.png" border="0" alt="Two Men in Court" title="" width="700" height="330"></div> + + +<p>Here is another "court" incident, in which +I and my companion played a part. We came +in contact with the law just sufficient to make +us know something of its bearings. When +charged with being in possession of "game" +we reiterated the old argument that rabbits +were vermin—but it rarely stood us in good +stead. On one occasion, however, we scored.<a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"></a> +Being committed for two months for "night +poaching," we respectfully informed the presiding +Justice that, at the time of our capture, +the sun had risen an hour; and further, that +the law did not allow more than half the sentence +just passed upon us. Our magistrate +friend—to whom I have more than once referred—was +on the bench, and he told his +brother Justices that he thought there was +something in the contention. The old Clerk +looked crabbed as he fumbled for his horn +spectacles, and, after turning over a book +called "Stone's Justices' Manual," he solemnly +informed the bench that defendants in their +interpretation were right. We naturally remember +this little incident, and as the law has +had the whip hand of us upon so many occasions, +chuckle over it.</p> + +<p>We invariably made friends with the stone-breakers +by the road-sides, and just as invariably +carried about us stone-breakers' +hammers, and "preserves" for the eyes. +When hard pressed, and if unknown to the +pursuing keeper, nothing is easier than to dis<a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"></a>miss +the dog, throw off one's coat, plump +down upon the first stone heap on the road, +and go to work. If the thing is neatly done, +and the "preserves" cover the face, it is +wonderful how often this ruse is successful. +The keeper may put a hasty question, but he +oftener rushes after his man. Mention of +stone-heaps reminds me of the fact that they +are better "hides" for nets than almost anything +else, especially the larger unbroken +heaps. We invariably hid our big cumbrous +fishing nets beneath them, and the stones +were just as invariably true to their trust.</p> + +<p>Going back to my earliest poaching days I +remember a cruel incident which had a very +different ending to what its author intended. +A young keeper had made a wager that he +would effect my capture within a certain number +of days, and my first intimation of this +fact was a sickening sight which I discovered +in passing down a woodland glade just at dawn +on a bright December morning. I heard a +groan, and a few yards in front saw a man +stretched across the ride. His clothes were<a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"></a> +covered with hoar frost, he was drenched in +blood, and the poor fellow's pale face showed +me that of the keeper. He was held fast in a +man-trap which had terribly lacerated his +lower limbs. He was conscious, but quite +exhausted. Although in great agony he suffered +me to carry him to a neighbouring hay-rick, +from whence we removed him to his +cottage. He recovered slowly, and the man-trap +which he had set the night before was, I +believe, the last ever used in that district.</p> + +<a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i037.png" border="0" alt="Injured Man being Carried" title="" width="448" height="700"></div> + +<p><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"></a> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"></a> + +<a name="CHAPTER_11" id="CHAPTER_11"></a> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i038.png" border="0" alt="Chapter 11." title="" width="700" height="322"></div> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 20%;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:.06em;"> +<h2 class="smcap">Personal Encounters.</h2> + +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i007_worda.png" width="236" height="60" alt="When" title=""> +</div> +<div class="figparts1"> +<img class="parts" src="images/i007_wordb.png" width="118" height="43" alt="" title=""> +</div> +<p style="text-indent: 0em;">I had finished the last chapter +I thought I had completed my work, +but the gentleman who is to edit +these "Confessions" now tells me that I am +to confess more. He reminds me that I +cannot have been an active poacher nearly all +my life without having had numerous personal<a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"></a> +encounters with keepers and others. And in +this he is right. But there is some difficulty in +my additional task for the following reasons: +I have never cared to take much credit to +myself for having broken the head of a keeper, +and there is but little pleasure to me in recounting +the occasions when keepers have +broken mine. However, speaking of broken +heads reminds me of an incident which was +amusing, though, at the time, somewhat painful +to me.</p> + +<p>One night in November when the trees were +bare, and the pheasants had taken to the +branches, we were in a mixed wood of pine +and beech. A good many birds roosted on +its confines, and, to a practised eye, were not +difficult to see against the moon as they +sat on the lower limbs of the trees, near the +trunks. I and my companion had old, strong +guns with barrels filed down, and, as we +got very near to the birds, we were using +small charges of powder. As the night was +windy the shots would not be heard very far, +and we felt fairly safe. When we had obtained<a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"></a> +about three brace of birds, however, I +heard a sudden crash among the underwood, +when I immediately jumped behind the bole of +a tree, and kept closely against it.</p> + +<p>The head-keeper had my companion down +before he could resist, and I only remained +undiscovered for a few seconds. One of the +under-keepers seized me, but, being a good +wrestler, I soon threw him into a dense brake +of brambles and blackthorn. Then I bolted +with the third man close behind. I could +easily have outrun him over the rough country +that lay outside the wood, but—ah! these +"buts"—there was a stiff stone fence fully +five feet high betwixt me and the open. Unless +I could "fly" the fence he would have +me. I clutched my pockets, steadied myself +for the leap—and then sprang. I heard my +pursuer stop for a second to await the issue. +Weighted as I was I caught the coping, and +fell back heavily into the wood. As soon as +the keeper saw I was down he rushed forward +and hit me heavily on the head with a stave. +The sharp corner cut right through the skin,<a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"></a> +and blood spurted out in little jets. Then I +turned about, determined to close with my +opponent if he was inclined for further roughness. +But he was not. When he saw that +the blood was almost blinding me he dropped +his hedge-stake, and ran, apparently terrified +at what he had done. I leaned for a few +moments against the wall, then dragged myself +over, and started for a stream which ran down +the field. But I felt weaker at every step, and +soon crept into a bed of tall brackens, and +plugged the wound in my head with a handful +of wet moss, keeping it in position with my +neckerchief. After this I munched some +bread and hard cheese, sucked the dew from +the fern fronds, and then fell into a broken +sleep. I must have slept for four or five +hours, when I woke thirsty and feverish, and +very weak. I tried to walk, but again and +again fell down. Then I crawled for about a +hundred yards, but this caused my wound to +bleed afresh, and I fainted. Just as day was +coming a farm labourer came across, and +kindly helped me to his cottage. He and his<a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"></a> +wife bathed my head and eyes, and then assisted +me to the bed from which they had just +risen. At noon I was able to take some bread +and milk, and at night, an hour after darkness +had fallen, I was able to start for home.</p> + +<p>Well, the sequel came in due time. We +each received a summons (my companion had +been released after identification), we were +tried in about a fortnight from the date of our +capture. There was a full bench of Magistrates; +my companion pleaded guilty (with a view to a +lenient sentence); myself—not guilty. In the +first instance the case was clear, but not one of +the three keepers (to their credit) would swear +to me. They looked me carefully over, particularly +my assailant. He was reminded that +it was a fine, moonlight night. Yes, but his +man, he thought, was taller, was more strongly +built, and looked pale and haggard—no, he +would not say that I was the man—in short, he +thought I was not. Then came my innings. +The keeper had sworn that, after running a +mile, the poacher he chased had turned on him, +and threatened to "do for him," if he advanced;<a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"></a> +that he had hit him on the head with +his stick, and must have wounded him +severely. He was also careful to explain that +he had done this in "self defence." I then +pointed out to the "bench" that it was no +longer a matter of opinion; that I claimed to +have my head examined, and asked that the +Police Superintendent, who was conducting +the case, should settle the point.</p> + +<p>But my assumption of an air of injured innocence +had already done its work, and the +presiding Magistrate said there was no evidence +against me; that the case as against me +was dismissed.</p> + +<p>I had hard work to get out of the box +without smiling, for even then the pain in my +head was acute, and I was not right for weeks +after. I knew, however, that my wound was a +dangerous possession, and close attention to +my thick, soft hair, enabled me to hide it, always +providing that it was not too closely +examined. My companion was less fortunate, +and his share of the proceedings, poor fellow, +was "two months."<a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"></a></p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i039.png" border="0" alt="Two Men by a Burning Hut" title="" width="700" height="533"></div> + + +<p>Here is the record of another encounter. +There was a certain wood, the timber in which +had been felled and carted. It had previously +contained a good deal of "coppice," and after +the wood-cutters had done their work, this +had been utilized by the charcoal burners. +The ashes from the charcoal had promoted +quite an unseasonable growth, and everywhere +about the stoles of the ash roots and hazel +snags, fresh green grass and clover were +springing. The hares on the neighbouring +estate had found out this, and came nightly +to the clearing to feed. As there were neither +gaps nor gates we found it impossible to +net them, and so had to resort to another +device. Before the wood had been cleared +rabbits had swarmed in it, and these had found +ingress and egress through "smoots" in the +stone fences. Upon examination we found that +the larger of these were regularly used by our +quarry, and, as we could not net them, we +determined to plant a purse net at every smoot, +drive the wood with fast dogs, and so bag our +game. When everything was ready the lurchers<a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"></a> +commenced their work, and, thoroughly +grasping the programme, worked up to it +admirably. Each dog that "found" drove its +hare fast and furiously (this was necessary), +and, in an hour, a dozen were bagged. There +was only this disadvantage. The wood was so +large, the smoots so far apart, that many +of the hares screamed for some seconds before +they could be dispatched. The continuance +of this screaming brought up the keepers, and +our game was up, and with it what we had +bagged. The watchers numbered four or five, +and, leaving everything, we ran. In our line +of retreat was an abandoned hut built by the +charcoal burners, consisting of poles, with +heather and fern for roof and sides. We made +for this, hoping, in the darkness, to elude +our pursuers, then double in our tracks +as soon as they had passed. But they were +not so easily deceived. As soon as the +crackling of the dead sticks caused by our +tread had ceased, they evidently suspected +some trick, and knew that we were still in the +wood. And the hut was the first object of<a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"></a> +search. As they were quite unaware of our +number they declined to enter, but invited us +into the open. We replied by barricading the +narrow doorway with poles and planks which +we found within. Of course this was only +completing our imprisonment, but we felt that +one or more of their number would be sent for +<a name="tn_png_162"></a><!--TN: "fnrther" changed to "further"-->further help, and that then we would make a +dash to escape. We agreed to take off in +different directions, to divide the attacking +force, and then lead them across the roughest +country we could find. A deep stream was +not far off, and here we would probably +escape. But our scheme went wrong—or, +rather, we had no opportunity to put it into +practice. After waiting and listening awhile +we saw lights glisten in the chinks of the +heather walls, and then fumes of smoke began +to creep up them. They were burning us out. +Quietly as we could we undid the barricading, +and, as the air rushed in, tiny tongues of flame +shot up the heather. Now we lay low with +our faces on the damp floor. Then a pole was +thrust through. Another current of air and<a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"></a> +the flames shot everywhere. The thick smoke +nearly stifled us, and the heat became intense. +The fire ran up the poles, and burning bits of +the heather roof began to fall. Then came the +crisis. A fir pole had been raised without, +and then was to crash through the hut. This +was the first outside proceeding we had +seen—we saw it through the riddled walls. +As soon as the men loosed their hold of the +tree for its fall we sprang from the doorway; +and then for a few seconds the sight was magnificent. +As the roof crashed in the whole +hut was one bright mass of flame, and a sheet +of fire shot upwards into the night. The +burning brackens and ling sent out myriads of +sparks, and these falling around gave us a few +seconds' start. As agreed, we each hurled +a burning brand among the keepers, then disappeared +in the darkness. Certainly no one +followed us out of the wood. We had simply +scored by lying low with the fire about us, +taking advantage of the confusion and dazzling +light, and then knowing our way out of the +difficulty. The squire's son, we saw, was one<a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"></a><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"></a><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"></a> +of the attacking party. We were a bit burnt, +we lost the game and nets, but were quite +content to have escaped so easily.</p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i040.png" border="0" alt="Two Men in a Tree" title="" width="700" height="466"></div> + + +<p>There is another incident which I have +good cause to remember all my life. It is of +a somewhat different nature to the foregoing, +and occurred on the estuary of the river which +I used frequently to net with good results. +Someone who was certainly not very friendly +disposed had seen me and my companion start +for our fishing ground, and had made the most of +their knowledge. After getting to the near +vicinity of our work, we lay down beneath a +hay-rick to wait for a degree of darkness. +Then we crawled on hands and knees by the +side of a fence until it brought us to a familiar +pool which we knew to be well stocked with +salmon and trout. As we surveyed the water +we heard voices, and knew that the pool was +watched. These sounds seemed to come from +the lower limbs of a big tree, and soon one of +the watchers hidden in the branches stupidly +struck a match to light his pipe. This not +only frescoed two forms against the night, but<a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"></a> +lit up their faces with a red glow. The discovery +was a stroke of luck. We knew where +we had the water bailiffs, and the rest was easy. +We got quietly away from the spot, and soon +were at work in a pool further up stream. +No one but a gaunt heron objected to our +fishing, and we made a splendid haul. The +salmon and sea-trout had begun to run, +and swarmed everywhere along the reaches. +We hid our net in the "otter" holes, and, +under heavy loads, made for home across the +meadows. We were well aware that the local +police changed duty at six in the morning, and +timed our entry into town precisely at that +hour. But our absence of the previous night +had gone further abroad, and the local Angling +Association, the Conservancy Board, and the +police had each interested themselves in our +doings. It was quite unsafe to hide the spoil, +as was usual, and home it must be carried. I +was now alone. In the open I felt comparatively +safe, but as I neared my destination +I knew not whom I should meet round the +next turn. Presently, however, it seemed as<a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"></a><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"></a><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"></a> +though I was in luck. Every wall, every +hedgerow, every mound aided my going. +Now a dash across an open field would land +me almost at my own door. Then I should +be safe. I had hardly had time to congratulate +myself on my getting in unobserved when a +constable, then a second, and a third were all +tearing down upon me from watch points, where +they had been in hiding. The odds were against +me, but I grasped my load desperately, drew +it tightly upon my shoulders, and ran. The +police had thrown down their capes, and were +rapidly gaining upon me. I got into a long +slouching trot, however, determined to make +a desperate effort to get in, where I should +have been safe. This they knew. Strong +and fleet as I was I was too heavily handicapped, +but I felt that even though I fell +exhausted on the other side of the door-way, I +would gain it. My pursuers—all heavy men—were +blown, and in trouble, and I knew there +was now no obstacle before me. Now it was +only a distance of twenty yards—now a dozen. +The great thuds of the men's feet were close<a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"></a> +upon me, and they breathed like beaten +horses. My legs trembled beneath me, and +I was blinded by perspiration. "Seize him," +"seize him," gasped the sergeant—but I was +only a yard from the door. With a desperate +feeling that I had won, I grasped the handle +and threw my whole weight and that of my +load against the door, only to find it—locked. +I fell back on to the stones, and the stern +chase was ended.</p> +<div class="figcenter" style="padding-bottom:1em;padding-top:1em;"><img src="images/i041.png" border="0" alt="Constables Looking at Large Pile of Fish" title="" width="700" height="574"></div> + +<p>For a minute nobody spoke—nobody was +able to. I lay where I fell, and the men +leaned against what was nearest them. Then +the sergeant condescended to say "poor beggar"—and +we all moved off. The fish were +turned out on the grass in the police station +yard, and were a sight to see. There were +ninety trout, thirty-seven salmon-morts, and +two salmon. I was not detained. One +of the men handed me a mort, telling +me I would be ready for a substantial breakfast. +I knew what it all meant, and first +thought of bolting, then settled that I +would do as I had always done—face it out.<a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"></a><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"></a><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"></a> +But I little knew what this meant, as will +presently be seen. I knew sufficient of the law +to forsee that I should be charged with trespassing; +with night poaching; with being in +illegal possession of fish; with illegally killing +and taking salmon; perhaps other counts +besides. But what I did <i>not</i> know was that I +should be charged, in addition, with being in +illegal possession of one hundred and twenty-nine +salmon and trout <i>during the close season</i>.</p> + + + +<p>And this is how it came about. There had +been an agitation throughout the whole of the +Conservancy district. It was contended that +the fishing season extended too far into Autumn +by a fortnight—that by that time the fish +had begun to spawn. The old condition of +things had held for years, and the new Conservancy +bye-laws had only just come into +operation. And so I was trapped. The case +came on, and a great shoal of magistrates with it. +Two of them were personally interested, and +were charitable enough to retire from the Bench—they +pushed their chairs back about an inch +from the table. I pleaded guilty to all the<a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"></a> +charges except the last, and explained the case as +clearly as I could. The Conservancy solicitor, +who prosecuted, did then what he had never +done before. It was a bad case he said, but +added that I had never before been charged +with netting during "close-time," and had never +used lime or other wholesale methods of poisoning. +He pointed out, too, to the presiding +Justice that I always claimed to "poach +square"—at which all the young ones laughed. +He did not press for the heaviest penalty. +But this was quite unnecessary, as I got it +without. I never quite understood how they +made it up, but I was fined ninety-seven +pounds. I told the Chairman that I should +pay it "in kind," and went to "hard" for nine +months.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"></a> +<div style="margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;line-height:1em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;padding-top:1em;padding-bottom:.1em;margin-right:10%;margin-left:10%;"> +WORKS BY JOHN WATSON.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:.06em;"> +<hr style="width: 30%;margin-bottom:.05em;margin-top:.06em;"> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.2em;margin-top:.8em;margin-bottom:.3em;">NATURE AND WOODCRAFT.</p> + +<p class="center" style="line-height:1.5em;font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:.6em;">Crown 8vo, 5/.<br> +With Illustrations by G. E. <span class="smcap">Lodge</span>.</p> +<hr style="width: 10%;margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.5em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;margin-top:.2em;margin-bottom:.05em;">LONDON: SMITH & INNES.</p> + +<hr style="width: 80%;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;"> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.2em;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;">SYLVAN FOLK:</p> + +<p class="center" style="line-height:1.5em;font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:.6em;"><span class="smcap">SKETCHES OF BIRD AND ANIMAL LIFE IN BRITAIN.</span><br> +Crown 8vo, 3/6.</p> +<hr style="width: 10%;margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.5em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;margin-top:.2em;margin-bottom:.05em;">LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN.</p> + +<hr style="width: 80%;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;"> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.2em;margin-top:.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;">BRITISH SPORTING FISHES.</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:.8em;">Crown 8vo, with Frontispiece, 3/6.</p> +<hr style="width: 10%;margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.5em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1em;margin-top:.2em;margin-bottom:.05em;">LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL.</p> + +<hr style="width: 80%;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;"> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-style:italic;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:.8em;">IN THE PRESS.</p> +<hr style="width: 10%;margin-bottom:.8em;margin-top:.5em;"> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.2em;margin-top:.1em;margin-bottom:0em;">THE ANNALS OF A QUIET VALLEY.</p> +</div> +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"></a> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-style:italic;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:.5em;">Crown 8vo, 286 pp., cloth, 3s. 6d.</p> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 2em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:0em;">SYLVAN FOLK:</p> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1.2em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:.5em;padding-bottom:0em;">Sketches of Bird and Animal Life in Britain,</p> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: .75em;margin-top:.1em;margin-bottom:0em;">BY</p> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1.5em;margin-top:.3em;margin-bottom:0em;">JOHN WATSON, F.L.S.,</p> +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-style:italic;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:.5em;">Author of "Nature and Woodcraft," etc.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;margin-top:1.25em;margin-bottom:1.25em;"> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0.1em;margin-bottom:.5em;">NOTICES OF THE PRESS.</p> + + +<p class="blockquot">"Written by a born naturalist.... Characterised by that indefinable +something which distinguishes the observer of the fields and woods from the +mere book student."—<i>Daily News.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"It is this freshness, this out-door atmosphere, that gives its charm to these +sketches of bird and animal life, and that leads the reader along in fascinated +interest from the first to the last page."—<i>Literary World.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"May be placed on the same shelf with that of the greatest of all writers +on English rural life without any quarrel being incurred.... At once a +morally bracing and most instructive book."—<i>Christian Leader.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"He fully deserves the high compliment of being compared with Jefferies.... +This beautiful book, in which a zoologist might find new facts, a +poet light, and any thoughtful reader an inspiration."—<i>Fishing Gazette.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"There is the same enthusiasm and sincerity that marked Jefferies' work. +Mr. Watson always writes like a man who has his eye on his subject. 'Nature +by Night' is a thoroughly charming prose idyl, every detail in which is obviously +taken at first hand from <a name="tn_png_177"></a><!--TN: Single quote changed to double quote after "Nature."-->Nature."—<i>Observer.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Full of delicate description as enchanting as a fairy tale. Dull indeed +must be the reader who is insensible to its delightful charm.... Does the +increase of such books mean that we are tired of the civilisation of the streets, +and are ready to turn back for a while to the relics of a freer and wilder state?"—<i>Manchester +Examiner.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"After the laboured imitations of Jefferies, Mr. Watson's 'Sylvan Folk' +comes like a breath of sweet country air into the atmosphere of an emporium +of stuffed birds and calico flowers. A sympathetic, keen-eyed, worshipful observer +of Nature, Mr. Watson writes with the simplicity and directness +of a man who knows what he is about. There is not an uninteresting page in +'Sylvan Folk' from first to last."—<i>Echo.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"He knows how to interpret many of the innumerable signs and symbols +which are readily misunderstood, or altogether overlooked, by less careful +inquirers.... His descriptions are so fresh—they suggest so vividly the +idea of happy hours spent among attractive scenes in the open air—that they +will give genuine pleasure to everyone who reads them."—<i>Nature.</i></p> + +<hr style="width: 40%;margin-top:.8em;margin-bottom:.8em;"> +<p class="center blockquot"><span class="smcap">London</span>: T. FISHER UNWIN, <span class="smcap">Paternoster Square</span>, E.C.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" class="newpg"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"></a> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-style:italic;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:.5em;">Crown 8vo, 302 pp., cloth, 3s. 6d.</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 2em;margin-top:0em;margin-bottom:0em;">NATURE AND WOODCRAFT</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: .75em;margin-top:.1em;margin-bottom:0em;">BY</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-size: 1.5em;margin-top:.3em;margin-bottom:0em;">JOHN WATSON, F.L.S.,</p> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: normal;font-style:italic;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:.5em;">Author of "Sylvan Folk," &c.</p> + +<hr style="width: 30%;margin-top:1.25em;margin-bottom:1.25em;"> + +<p class="center" style="font-weight: bold;font-size: 1em;margin-top:0.1em;margin-bottom:.5em;">NOTICES OF THE PRESS.</p> + +<p class="blockquot">"A delightfully fresh and enjoyable book. Those who know the open air +and the life of animated nature will enjoy the skill with which Mr. Watson +translates its aspects and its actions into literary expression. Those who dwell +in cities will enjoy it because the papers induce the illusion that one is in the +country."—<i>Scotsman.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Written with real ability as well as adequate knowledge. On every page +there is evidence of genuine though never paraded enthusiasm for the calm +delights of the country. Mr. Watson writes in a clear and attractive manner, +and one, moreover, around which an imaginative glamour rests."—<i>Leeds Mercury.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Mr. Watson writes effectively, from the accumulations of years of close +observation of nature. Since the death of Mr. Jefferies few living writers can +compete with him in this particular path of literature."—<i>Bookseller.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"This is the best <a name="tn_png_178"></a><!--TN: "witten" changed to "written"-->written and most valuable of Mr. Watson's books. Best of +all are his chapters on the old Statesman theory of life in the North."—<i>Academy.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Nothing can be better than all those chapters which describe life among +the Cumbrian mountains; this is Mr. Watson's real theme, and he deserves +all the thanks we can give him for executing it with such true feeling."—<i>Manchester +Guardian.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Mr. Watson's volume 'Nature and Woodcraft' deserves a hearty welcome, +and will doubtless get it. He writes with a grace and fluency that make his +book hard to leave."—<i>Yorkshire Post.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"Many admirers of Richard Jefferies will be glad to see that one still lives +who can write so charmingly of nature and woodcraft."—<i>Perthshire Advertiser.</i></p> + +<p class="blockquot">"As an observer pure and simple, and as a bright and pleasing recorder, +Mr. Watson can hold his own with anybody; and his range is sufficiently +extensive to secure, in addition to all other charms, the charm of variety."—<i>Manchester +Examiner.</i></p> + + +<div style="border: dashed 1px;margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;margin-top:2em;"> +<div style="margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;"> +<h2 style="padding-top:.75em;">Transcriber's Note</h2> + +<p>Illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the text.</p> +<p>Page numbers are documented as links within the source code.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies have been retained in hyphenation and grammar, except +where indicated in the list below.</p> + +<p>Here is a list of the minor typographical corrections made:</p> +<div style="margin-left:15%;margin-right:15%;"> +<ul> +<li><a href="#tn_png_18">"curiouly" changed to "curiously"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_22">Period added after "2"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_25">"the the" changed to "the"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_25a">"avourable" changed to "favourable"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_35">Period moved from after "Chapter" to after "3"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_41">"sucseeded" changed to "succeeded"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_42">"succesfully" changed to "successfully"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_48">"dfficult" changed to "difficult"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_68">Period added after "apart"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_72">Period added after "day"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_95">"croocked" changed to "crooked"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_117">"difficut" changed to "difficult"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_119">"is is" changed to "is"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_127">"an" changed to "and"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_127a">"ha" changed to "has"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_127b">"troub" changed to "trouble"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_129">"alwasy" changed to "always"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_140">Comma removed after "Bench"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_147">"its" changed to "it's"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_162">"fnrther" changed to "further"</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_177">Single quote changed to double quote after "Nature."</a></li> +<li><a href="#tn_png_178">"witten" changed to "written"</a></li> +</ul> +</div> + +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Confessions of a Poacher, by Anonymous + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONFESSIONS OF A POACHER *** + +***** This file should be named 36970-h.htm or 36970-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/9/7/36970/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Linda Hamilton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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