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CHAPTER IV 



SHOOTING 



Every lover of the gun will admit that he owes a debt 

 of gratitude to the ubiquitous rabbit, and its extinction, 

 which is not merely threatened by existing legislation, 

 but in some places has been actually accomplished, 

 will be a matter of regret for everyone but the agri- 

 culturist who possesses no sporting instincts. The 

 absence of a close time and the knowledge that rabbits 

 may be shot all the year round — though we have ven- 

 tured to protest against killing them after the expiration 

 of the shooting season when the does are suckling their 

 young (see pp. lo, 1 1) — afford many persons an excuse 

 for a day's sport when game cannot be killed ; while 

 the fact that there are a great many shooters whose 

 means do not permit of their renting partridge-ground 

 or pheasant-coverts, justifies their regarding the rabbit 

 as especially created for their particular diversion. 

 Truly, a day's covert-shooting without rabbits would 



