The record-union., 1891-06-20

inch of ground beaten" the day before:
and also that the clamor and fright had
broken up the rucks or coveys into de-
tached files of pheasants, and that these
would retreat as high as possible among
the branches of larch and FIR. The
fog, too, was in their favor. All
night long they had methodically
hunted out certain trees, discovered
the pheasants within them, smudged
them into half insensibility and delib-
perches, dispatching them the moment
they fell by sinking their beastly
thumbs in the brain of the befuddled
birds. The work of gathering those
which had been stolen from the "bag"
the previous day was left until the break
of day, and was just about completed as I
had come upon the scene. Dozens went
few minutes Of my investigation. The
poles, the lad and the little old man fol-
lowed. As the burly fellow i had caught
followed these, and he was still astride
the wall where he had pounded the glass
away and daubed a covering of hard clay,
l asked him how many they had prob
ably taken. Illus doa'n Mt rightly KNOW"
was his modest and hoarsely whispered
rejoinder; "'likes there be nigh onto
forty bracen Then pulling his forelock
and winking wisely, he disappeared. The
noosed rope slid gently after him, and I
heard the swishy sound of the straw
wrapped wheels grow fainter, and finally
silent, as / set out on my return to the
castle the way l come; the meanwhile
Illuminating on the many ways still open
to the nobility of this land to be, without
effort to themselves, of vast humanitarian
service to the gentle English peasant of
the poems and books.
PRESERVING GAME.
Few people in America, or for that
matter here, have any adequate idea of
the tremendous sums annually expended
in the preservation and taking of game
in England, Ireland and Scotland. On
former occasion had need to secure the
figures for Scotland alone. Hunting and
fishing with attendant expenses annually
cost British spOrtsmen in Scotland S20,-
100000! What must the sum total con-
sequently be for the three kingdoms?
Here then is at once found the real origin
Of pOachers and poaching. Every Briton
is born sportsman. Hence with every
square rod of ground under lease as
shooting" and every lineal rod of shore
of beck, burn, river, loch or harbor under
lease to somebody as a fishing" mill
ions are debarred by the severest game
laws in the world from any use whatever
of the rod and gun, save by stealth and
illegality. Almost every one of these
millions becomes quasi poacher, on op-
portunity, as against the few thousands
of privileged class, and not unwilling
poachers' agents in the disposition or
consumption of the Illegally secured
booty. Low as is the scale of the profess
Sional poacher, it must not be supposed
that he is prescribed outlaw. British
newspapers always discuss him from his
humorous side. His vocation is every
where known among villagers and coun-
tryside folk, and there are none so das-
tardly as to give him into the hands of
officers. l personally know of many in
stances where poacher graduates have
become gamekeepers. Other gamekeep-
ers often seek their friendship, rather
than their enmity, thus reducing ravages
| to the lowest limit. And there are well
authenticated cases where MILFORD himself
has hobnobbed with them for lessons in
CUNNING AND wooDCRAFT.
Two of the most noted and incorrigible
of British poachers infest the lochs and
deer forests in the vicinity Of Fort Will
lam, Scotland. One is named Macewan,
and the other, confirmed tramp poacher
is known about the region of Loeb Eli, as
''Drousy Mogins." Macewan seems un-
vanquishable. In 1888 Lord Abinger of
Inverlochy House obtained an interdict
against him. He Immediately secured it's
removal for Els, part only of the pro-
ceeds OF two days shooting in Lord Alb
inger's preserves. since which time his
liz
His greatest revenues are however Sc
cured by night sweeping" by seines of
the pools of the river Lochy, hundreds of
grilse or young salmon and some sea-
trout always being secured. "Drousy
! Mogins" is more Of poacher angler, and
! less of a pirate. He wanders at will
| among the Grampian trout-streams sup
| plying the tables of the nobility with the
! choicest trout from their own streams:
and has been offered fabulous sums for a
| glimpse of his marvellous ''flies." But a
year since Lord Morton sent a young
poacher resident on his Ardgour estate,
to Cameron of Loch Eli, begging him to
press his genius for poaching. An entire
volume might be filled with similar Incl
dents and illustrations.
DEER PoACHING.
Poaching is carried on among the vast
deer-fOreStS, and in stream and pool
sweeping" by net in a most lawless and
defiant manner. 1t is simply impossible
to provide sufficient gamekeepers and
gillies to protect the forests from the in
roads of poacher "stalkers''; and the
poachers of fish are so thoroughly organ
lied and in sudden conflicts with water
bailiffs handle the latter so mercilessly,
that the bailiffs usually seek seclusion
rather than the marauders.
Genuine cunning, patience with mar
more often found in those poacherS who
hang about the outskirts Of well stocked
'shootlngs" and preserves, alert as spar
! w-hawks or moor-buZzards for poults
| of every description which have market
value. Pheasant and grouse poaching
bring the most profitable returns. Aside
from the night raids described above, the
| ingenious device is resorted to OF fitting a
! gamecock with artificial spurs, and
| stealthily placing him alongside the
| pheasant covert. The pugnacious pheas-
ant-cocks instantly respond to the game
cocks Growing challenge, and often three
or tour brace of pheasantS are thus taken.
Again in the highways near where pheas-
| ants are bred they may often be seen
scratching and rolling in the dust of the
road. The poacher provides himself with
| corn kernels into which short bristles
have been inserted. These are greedily
devoured, and the birds, choking to
death in the hedges, are quickly and
! quietly dispatched.
GROUSE TAKING.
Grouse are taken by being shot from
| behind stone walls, an entire brood often
being picked off at time, if the poacher
| keep himself out of sight; with fine hair
| snares set on the moor hillocks, in the
s'runsn around them, and between the
"rests'' among the heather; and just be-
| fore daybreak, by silk drag with
| glazed bottoms, on moors which are
Systematically burnt, an entire covey
often being bagged at one sweep. But
| the most detestable of all British poachers
| is that wholesale thief, who has no soul
! for nature love, whose articles are never
marvelously ingenious for the sake of the
art in them, and who never possesses
even the slight attractiveness of sunny
and genial vagabondlsm. This is that
poucher or moucher who rents for from
! twenty to eighty shillings, from some
moorland farmer or yoeman, tiny
CHILL sHooTING.n