114 THE RABBIT 



He cites bags of 1,850, 2,500, and 1,650 rabbits 

 ' killed in one day, only beating half the ground,' and 

 since the publication of his book these figures have 

 been considerably exceeded on his own ground at 

 Rhiwlas, North Wales. For instance, a party of nine 

 guns shooting there in 1883 killed 3,684 rabbits in a 

 single day, and on another day, in 1885, as many as 

 5,086. Of this last number no fewer than 920 were 

 shot by Lord de Grey. The next best bag of rabbits 

 made by a single gun was that of the late Sir Victor 

 Brooke, who, shooting in his own park at Colebrook, 

 Co. Fermanagh, in 1885, killed 740 rabbits in a 

 day to his own gun. He fired exactly 1,000 cart- 

 ridges, and shot from his right shoulder for one half 

 of the day, and from his left the other half. 



To show what may be done in this way upon a 

 comparatively small shooting, The Field of De- 

 cember I, 1894, contained the announcement that on 

 the previous November 19, Mr. Charles Eley and a 

 friend, each shooting with two guns in a forty-acre 

 warren, on the East Bergholt Highlands Estate, killed 

 no fewer than 900 rabbits, or twenty-three to the acre. 

 With a large party and on a much larger acreage, one 

 of the most celebrated days at rabbits was that which 

 happened at Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, the seat 

 of Lord Stamford, where on a certain day in December, 



