214 RED DEER. 



and hares too, feed voraciously. After rain 

 a hare will run at night twice as much as 

 other nights ; these evenings are the best 

 for shooting rabbits out feeding. 



The poacher who goes out to net hares 

 has a net about twelve feet long, similar in 

 shape, and takes with him a lurcher. He 

 has previously found where hares feed at 

 night by their tracks to and fro and the 

 marks of their pads on the wet ground, as 

 the sand in gateways. Hares usually go 

 through gateways, so that he knows which 

 way they will come. He sets the net across 

 the gateway inside the field, stands aside 

 and sends the dog to drive the hare into 

 it. The dog is a cross between a sheep-dog 

 and a collie, very fast, and runs mute ; he 

 does not give tongue on finding the scent ; 

 if he did the poacher would strangle him 

 as useless, since barking would announce 

 too plainly what was going- forward. 



