METHOD OF CATCHING RABBITS 275 



to refer you to him. That no other writer should 

 have followed his steps, may, I think, be thus ac- 

 counted for : — Those gentlemen who make a profession 

 of writing live chiefly in town, consequently cannot be 

 supposed to know much of hunting ; and those who do 

 know any thing of it, are either servants who cannot 

 write, or country gentlemen who will not give them- 

 selves the trouble. However, I have met with some 

 curious remarks, which I cannot help communicating 

 to you. One author tell us, that " coursing is more 

 agreeable than hunting, becmtse it is sooner over;" 

 "that a terrier is a mongrel greyhound ;" and, "that 

 dogs have often coughs from eating fish-bones" 



Another (a French author) advises us to give a 

 horse, after hunting, "a soup made of bread and wine, 

 and an onion." I fear an English groom would eat 

 the onion and drink the wine. 



The same author has also a very peculiar method 

 of catching rabbits, which you will please to take in 

 his own words : he calls it, Chasse du lapin a I'dcrevisse. 

 " Cctte chasse convient aux personnes qui ne veulent 

 employer ni furets ni amies a feu ; on tend des poches a 

 U7ie extrdmitd d'un terrier, et a r autre on glisse une 

 Screvisse ; cet a7iimal arrive peu-a-peu au fond de la 

 retrait du lapine, le pique, sy attache avec tant de force, 

 que le quadrupede est oblige' de fuir, emportant avec lui 

 son ennemi, et vient se faire prendre dans le filet quon 

 ltd a tendu a fouvcrture du terrier. Cctte chasse 

 demande beaucoup de patience : les operations de Vecre- 

 visse sont lentes, mais aussi elles sont quelquefois vlus 

 sures que celles du furet" 



