dient, because the
fire must be lit on the windward side, and the rabbits will only come
out to leeward. The smoke hangs, and does not penetrate into half the
tunnels; or else it blows through quickly, when you must stop half the
holes with a spade. It is a wretched substitute for a ferret.

When cock-fighting was common the bellicose inclinations of the
cock-pheasants were sometimes excited to their destruction. A gamecock
was first armed with the sharp spur made from the best razors, and then
put down near where a pheasant-cock had been observed to crow. The
pheasant cock is so thoroughly game that he will not allow any rival
crowing in his locality, and the two quickly met in battle. Like a keen
poniard the game-cock's spur either slew the pheasant outright or got
fixed in the pheasant's feathers, when he was captured.

A pheasant, too, as he ran deeper into the wood upon an alarm,
occasionally found his neck in a noose suspended across his path. For
rabbiting, the lurcher was and is the dog of all others. He is as
cunning and wily in approaching his game as if he had a cross of feline
nature in his character. Other dogs trust to speed; but the lurcher
steals on his prey without a sound. He enters into the purpose of his
master, and if any one appears in sight remains quietly in the hedge
with the rabbit or leveret in his mouth till a sign bids him approach.
If half the stories told of the docility and intelligence of the lurcher
are true, the poacher needs no other help than one of these dogs for
ground game. But the dogs called lurchers nowadays are mostly of
degenerate and impure breed; still, even these are capable of a good
deal.

There is a way of fishing with rod and line, but without a bait. The rod
should be in one piece, or else a stout one--the line also very strong
and short, the hook of large size. When the fish is discovered the hook
is quietly dropped into the water and allowed to float, in seeming,
along, till close under it. The rod is then jerked up, and the barb
enters the body of the fish and drags it out.

This plan requires, of course, that the fish should be visible, and if
stationary is more easily practised; but it is also effective even
against small fish that swim together in large shoals, for if the hook
misses one it strikes another. The most fatal time for fish is when they
spawn: roach, jack, and trout alike are then within reach, and if the
poacher dares to visit the water he is ce