A MANOR HOUSE IN DEER LAND. 213 



Large catches are often made like this. 

 Sometimes as many as sixty or eighty rabbits 

 may be seen out feeding in the evening by 

 the head of a cover that is, where the 

 wood joins the meadows. Besides rabbits a 

 hare now and then runs in, and a fox is 

 occasionally caught. Everything out in the 

 fields, on being alarmed, scampers back to 

 the wood, and the large net, invisible in 

 the darkness, intercepts the retreat. Bluish- 

 green meshes are scarcely noticeable even 

 in daylight when laid in ferns, on bushes, 

 or by tall grass. This net down at the hall 

 cost the poachers two or three pounds, and 

 was taken from them the very first night 

 they used it. It is heavy and forms a heap 

 rolled up enough to fill a bushel basket. 

 The meshes are very strong and will hold 

 anything. A very favourite time to set these 

 nets, and indeed for all kinds of poaching, 

 as with wires, is after rain, when rabbits, 



