SHOOTING 121 



out of harm's way. Now and then, perhaps, you 

 come unexpectedly upon a coney which, trusting to 

 its protective coloration, has crouched amidst some 

 sand-grass in the hope of escaping detection, and 

 pays the usual penalty for his temerity ; or peeping 

 over a boulder cautiously, you spy a number out at 

 feed, some of which are within shot of your ambush, 

 and two of which you manage to secure. In another 

 instant the ground, erstwhile teeming with life, is 

 completely deserted; every rabbit has disappeared 

 beneath the surface, and the only living creatures to 

 be seen are a few wheatears which flit jerkily away, 

 or a solitary ringed-plover which, after piping for 

 some seconds on the ground, flies rapidly over the 

 sand-hills and is lost to sight. 



In such situations as this, and indeed on exposed 

 ground of any extent, such as a warren, or open down- 

 land where rabbits are plentiful but covert scarce, the 

 weapon to use is not a 12-bore breechloader, but a 

 small-bore rifle. Not only will this be found most 

 effectual at rabbits beyond the ordinary range of a 

 shot-gun, but it makes so much less noise that rabbits 

 are not nearly so much scared by the report. The 

 comparative lightness of a small-bore single rifle, 

 and the rapidity with which it may be fired and 

 reloaded when fitted with a modern ejector, makes it 



