A Poacher's Reputation
Since I wrote a book about poaching a few years ago, I have been embarrassed to find myself hailed as an authority on all matters relating to illegal methods of obtaining one's dinner. By second or third hand a retired policeman has conveyed to me a way of catching pheasants with little paper cones lined with bird-lime and containing a few grains of wheat. The cones are put in dibbled holes after the ground has been well baited. The lime fastens the paper to the heads of the unfortunate birds, and they stumble about until they are lifted. It sounds simple, but gamekeepers are observant men, and I am not prepared to put it to the test. Some methods of obtaining fish and fowl are not so elaborate but very effective. The other day an inn- keeper whose place I was visiting was eager to see that I improved my technique of salmon-snatching—a thing 1 have never done—and explained how, by the use of a pearl button and a large treble hook, 1 need never go without a salmon steak. To live up to my reputation would be to invite certain disaster, and I prefer a quiet life.
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