146 THE RABBIT 



net in an outward direction when falling, and keep 

 the bottom line firmly to the ground at each pole. 

 The advantages claimed for this method of netting 

 are that it can be used by daylight ; that before a 

 drive the rabbits are not disturbed by any noise 

 behind them ; and that, owing to the instantaneous fall 

 of the net, rabbits feeding even within a few feet of it 

 cannot get back to covert before the net stops them. 



Messrs. Denman, of Overton, Hants, have de- 

 signed and patented a so-called drop-down fencing 

 intended to answer the same purpose, but it is more 

 expensive to erect, and, being made of wire instead of 

 string-netting, is more likely to injure game going 

 hard at it than is the case with the softer material. 



We come now to a subject which may be appro- 

 priately dealt with in the present chapter, since it 

 affects the question ' how to make rabbits lie out.' It 

 will be admitted by most people who have tried it that 

 ferreting as a preliminary to a big shoot is slow work ; 

 it unnecessarily frightens the rabbits, and many get so 

 mutilated by the ferrets that they never come above- 

 ground again. 



A good deal will depend upon the kind of ground 

 on which they are to be ' stopped out.' If there is no 

 covert, or very little, and that not of the right sort, all 

 one's efforts to induce rabbits to lie out will be in vain. 



