TRAPPING, SNARING, NETTING, ^c. 133 



field to another will he put on pace enough to carry 

 him into the snare before he perceives it. It then 

 appears to him nothing more than a grass stalk lean- 

 ing across the run, and the mistake is discovered 

 when it is too late. 



From a humanitarian point of view the wire snare 

 is open to the objection that its victims generally 

 undergo a slow process of strangulation in their 

 efforts to get free, but this is not invariably the case, 

 for the speed at which a rabbit goes headlong into 

 a snare will often dislocate the neck. A so-called 

 ' humane rabbit snare ' has been devised which will 

 hold a rabbit without strangling it. This con- 

 trivance, which will be found described and figured 

 in The Field of December 19, 1891, is in fact a very 

 slight modification of the ordinary wire snare. It 

 merely requires a knot to be made in the wire in such 

 a position as to prevent its being drawn through the 

 loop beyond a certain point. In other words, the 

 noose when over the head slips up to a knot which 

 effectually prevents strangulation and yet holds the 

 rabbit firmly and securely. Consequently the animal 

 suffers no pain, and is simply tethered with the wire 

 round its neck until liberated. It may then be either 

 mercifully killed, or removed alive for liberation else- 

 where if desired. We understand that hundreds of 



