Rabbits 9 1 



mid-day, and the best sport is to be got between ten 

 and twelve. You soon get to know the holes from 

 which they start most readily the best being usually 

 those which open on a steep bank, the worse those 

 which are mined into a level meadow. In the latter 

 the ferret often drives the rabbits into a corner from 

 which there is no exit, while in the former he chases 

 them from chamber to chamber into the open. There 

 is much variety in rabbits. One flies out like a shot, 

 and makes direct for another burrow or covert ; the 

 next stops short and sits down on his front doorstep 

 (as it were) to consider whether he shall go back or 

 maks a rush for it. If they come freely the shooting 

 is just difficult enough to be interesting. Not only 

 does the rabbit offer a smaller target than the hare, 

 but he has a jerky up-and-down run, and his earths 

 are commonly neighboured with brushwood and other 

 cover into which he may, and sometimes does, escape. 

 Besides, it is usual for one gun to look after a number 

 of openings, all of which you must closely watch, so 

 as to knock the quarry over as he slips rapidly from 

 one refuge to another. As a rule you have with you 

 a fast terrier or a small retriever, trained not to touch 

 the ferrets, but fast enough to bring up a wounded 

 rabbit. It is common enough for ferrets, even the 

 most expensive and carefully trained, to ' lie in,' for, 

 as every rabbit-shooter knows, it is a trick that is not 

 too mean for the best of them. Unmuzzled, too, they 

 gorge themselves with rabbit, and when they are 



