Page:The Hare.djvu/96

74 practices of poachers can only lead to a more careful supervision of their malpractices.

Game-dealers are at present the chief subsidisers of poachers. They are obliged to buy in the cheapest markets to make a living at all, and cannot afford to be over-curious as to how their supplies are procured. The best method of suppressing poaching that could be adopted would be to insist upon dealers buying game from recognised purveyors, instead of from the middlemen, who are in touch with the most desperate poachers. Farmers sometimes unwittingly assist the aims of poachers by inviting them to snare rabbits on their farms, in order to save their own pockets the outlay of paying a professed trapper. If a poacher has obtained permission to snare rabbits on a certain farm, it becomes easy for him to set snares upon an adjoining property.

If you once admit the morality of snaring, you may say good-bye to the preservation of hares. I know that keepers are often employed in snaring ground game for the market, especially where rabbits are numerous. The convenience of such an arrangement is obvious; but it nevertheless leads to serious mischief, and makes the snaring of game appear a respectable proceeding. Farmers do mischief, both by snaring hares themselves and by keeping farm