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diff --git a/36970.txt b/36970.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39685d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/36970.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2926 @@ +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: ASCII + +*** 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) + + + + + + + + + +"Poaching is one of the fine arts--how 'fine' only the initiated +know." + + + + +[Illustration: THE SQUIRE'S KEEPER.] + + + + + The + Confessions + of a + Poacher + + EDITED BY + JOHN WATSON, F.L.S., + Author of "Nature and Woodcraft," "Sylvan Folk," &c., &c. + + ILLUSTRATED BY + JAMES WEST. + + [Illustration] + + LONDON: + The Leadenhall Press, 50, Leadenhall Street, E.C. + _Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Co., Ltd: + New York: Scribner & Welford, 743 & 745, Broadway._ + 1890. + + + + + [Illustration] + THE LEADENHALL PRESS, + 50, LEADENHALL STREET, LONDON, E.C. + T 4,463. + + + + +EDITORIAL NOTE. + +[Illustration] + + +The 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. + + + + +CONTENTS. + +[Illustration] + + + CHAPTER. PAGE. + + 1. THE EMBRYO POACHER 7 + + 2. UNDER THE NIGHT 19 + + 3. GRADUATING IN WOODCRAFT 32 + + 4. PARTRIDGE POACHING 45 + + 5. HARE POACHING 57 + + 6. PHEASANT POACHING 74 + + 7. SALMON AND TROUT POACHING 90 + + 8. GROUSE POACHING 109 + + 9. RABBIT POACHING 123 + + 10. TRICKS 135 + + 11. PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS 151 + + + + +THE CONFESSIONS OF A POACHER. + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 1. + +THE EMBRYO POACHER. + + +I do 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. + +I was bred on the outskirts of a sleepy town in a good game country, and +my depredations were mostly when the Game Laws 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 +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 +_siesta_, 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 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 bee are +secured alike, for all serve as food to the loveable pied fly-catcher. + +[Illustration] + +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 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. + +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 bottom of the brook. The larvae 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 curiously speckled eggs. + +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 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. + +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 +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 of knowledge which will +serve him in good stead in his subsequent protest against the Game Laws. + +[Illustration] + +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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 2. + +UNDER THE NIGHT. + + Now came still evening on, and twilight gray + Had in her sober liv'ry all things clad. + + +When 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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 which drove +us to 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 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 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 and woods; but our extended knowledge of the dogs +came in after years. + +[Illustration] + +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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 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 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 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. + +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 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 one of them gathered off the neighbouring estates. + +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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 3. + +GRADUATING IN WOODCRAFT. + + We hear the cry + Of their voices high, + Falling dreamily through the sky; + But their forms we cannot see. + + +Just 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 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 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 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 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. + +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 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 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 +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 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 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. + +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 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. + +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, 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: + +"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 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." + +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 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. + +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 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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 4. + +PARTRIDGE POACHING. + + +The 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 +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 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. + +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 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 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. + +We always considered partridge good game, and sometimes were watching a +dozen coveys 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 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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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. + +[Illustration] + +One of the most ingenious and frequently successful methods I employed +for bagging 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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 5. + +HARE POACHING. + + The merry brown hares came leaping + Over the crest of the hill, + Where the clover and corn lay sleeping + Under the moonlight still. + + +Our 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 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + +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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 _far side_ 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 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. + +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. + +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" 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 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. + +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 couple of snares are set in gaps in an old thorn +fence not more than a yard 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 _opposite_ +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 _near_ 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, +_every hare on the estate should be netted_, for it is a fact well known +to every poacher versed 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 swift +dogs, which are taken _above_ the game. Puss is made to run down-hill, +when, from her peculiar formation, she goes at a disadvantage. + +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 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. + +Owing to the scarcity of game, hare-poaching is now hardly worth +following, and I believe that what is known as the _Ground Game Act_ 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 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 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. + +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 +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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 6. + +PHEASANT POACHING. + + +Through 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 +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. + +[Illustration] + +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 enterprise, and liberty by flight is +the first thing resorted to. + +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 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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 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. + +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 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. + +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 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. + +Poachers often come to untimely ends. Here is an actual incident which +befell one 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 _him_. 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 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. + +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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 7. + +SALMON AND TROUT POACHING. + + Flashes the blood-red gleam + Over the midnight slaughter; + Wild shadows haunt the stream; + Dark forms glance o'er the water. + It is the leisterers' cry! + A salmon, ho! oho! + In scales of light, the creature bright + Is glimmering below. + + +Most 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 +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 predatory and catch fish, fairly if they can--but they catch +fish. + +[Illustration] + +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 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-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. + +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 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 +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 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 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" by this kind of pollution in a month than the most +inveterate moucher will kill in a year. + +[Illustration] + +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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 +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 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 +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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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. 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. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 8. + +GROUSE POACHING. + + +For 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," 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. + +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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 platforms addressed to London dealers, but, as to who brought +them, or how they came there, none ever knows. + +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. 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 +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 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. + +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 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +The planting of grain patches along the moor-side has been mentioned, +and on these in late autumn great numbers of birds are bagged. 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 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 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." + +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. + +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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 9. + +RABBIT POACHING. + + +If 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. + +In the north we have two well-defined varieties of ferret--one a brown +colour and 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; and after killing it will not return until it +has gorged itself with blood. And more trouble 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 can afford to use only the best +animals. A tangled hedgebank with coarse herbage was 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 +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. + +[Illustration] + +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 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 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 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 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. + +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 has the disadvantage of being done in the light, but where there +is much game is very deadly. + +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 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. + +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. + +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 +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. + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 10. + +TRICKS. + + +When 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 +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. + +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. + +[Illustration] + +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 "Bench")--and providing a +luncheon in keeping with my temporary "squiredom," we started for the +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, 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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 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. + +[Illustration] + +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 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 _his_ 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, 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 in my veins that's no reason +why I shouldn't have my share. But 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 L5, 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 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. + +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. +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. + +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 dismiss 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. + +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 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. + +[Illustration] + + + + +[Illustration] + +Chapter 11. + +PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS. + + +When 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 +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. + +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 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. + +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, 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 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. + +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; 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. + +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. + +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." + +[Illustration] + +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 +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 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 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 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 of the +attacking party. We were a bit burnt, we lost the game and nets, but +were quite content to have escaped so easily. + +[Illustration] + +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 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 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 +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. + +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. 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 _not_ know was that I should be +charged, in addition, with being in illegal possession of one hundred +and twenty-nine salmon and trout _during the close season_. + +[Illustration] + +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 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. + + + + +WORKS BY JOHN WATSON. + + + NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. + Crown 8vo, 5/. + With Illustrations by G. E. LODGE. + LONDON: SMITH & INNES. + + * * * * * + + SYLVAN FOLK: + SKETCHES OF BIRD AND ANIMAL LIFE IN BRITAIN. + Crown 8vo, 3/6. + LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. + + * * * * * + + BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. + Crown 8vo, with Frontispiece, 3/6. + LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL. + + * * * * * + + _IN THE PRESS._ + THE ANNALS OF A QUIET VALLEY. + + + + + _Crown 8vo, 286 pp., cloth, 3s. 6d._ + SYLVAN FOLK: + Sketches of Bird and Animal Life in Britain, + BY + JOHN WATSON, F.L.S., + _Author of "Nature and Woodcraft," etc._ + + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS. + + "Written by a born naturalist.... Characterised by that indefinable + something which distinguishes the observer of the fields and woods + from the mere book student."--_Daily News._ + + "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."--_Literary World._ + + "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."--_Christian Leader._ + + "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."--_Fishing Gazette._ + + "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 + Nature."--_Observer._ + + "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?"--_Manchester + Examiner._ + + "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."--_Echo._ + + "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."--_Nature._ + +LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN, PATERNOSTER SQUARE, E.C. + + + + + _Crown 8vo, 302 pp., cloth, 3s. 6d._ + NATURE AND WOODCRAFT + BY + JOHN WATSON, F.L.S., + _Author of "Sylvan Folk," &c._ + + +NOTICES OF THE PRESS. + + "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."--_Scotsman._ + + "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."--_Leeds Mercury._ + + "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."--_Bookseller._ + + "This is the best 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."--_Academy._ + + "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."--_Manchester Guardian._ + + "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."--_Yorkshire Post._ + + "Many admirers of Richard Jefferies will be glad to see that one + still lives who can write so charmingly of nature and + woodcraft."--_Perthshire Advertiser._ + + "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."--_Manchester Examiner._ + +LONDON: WALTER SMITH & INNES, BEDFORD ST., STRAND, W.C. + + + + +Transcriber's Note + + +Illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the text. + +Inconsistencies have been retained in hyphenation and grammar, except +where indicated in the list below. + +Here is a list of the minor typographical corrections made: + + - "curiouly" changed to "curiously" on Page 15 + - Period added after "2" on Page 19 + - "the the" changed to "the" on Page 22 + - "avourable" changed to "favourable" on Page 22 + - Period moved from after "Chapter" to after "3" on Page 32 + - "sucseeded" changed to "succeeded" on Page 38 + - "succesfully" changed to "successfully" on Page 39 + - "dfficult" changed to "difficult" on Page 45 + - Period added after "apart" on Page 65 + - Period added after "day" on Page 69 + - "croocked" changed to "crooked" on Page 92 + - "difficut" changed to "difficult" on Page 114 + - "is is" changed to "is" on Page 116 + - "an" changed to "and" on Page 124 + - "ha" changed to "has" on Page 124 + - "troub" changed to "trouble" on Page 124 + - "alwasy" changed to "always" on Page 126 + - Comma removed after "Bench" on Page 137 + - "its" changed to "it's" on Page 144 + - "fnrther" changed to "further" on Page 159 + - Single quote changed to double quote after "Nature." on Page 174 + - "witten" changed to "written" on Page 175 + + + + + +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.txt or 36970.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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