PARTRIDGES, PHEASANTS, HARES, ETC. 93 



attack soon set our friend free, but only to find himself 

 badly bitten. As good luck would have it, a doctor was one 

 of the party ; and no sooner had the injured man announced 

 his intention of making tracks to the village medico, with a 

 view to cauterization, than this gentleman nobly came to the 

 rescue, by suggesting a retirement behind a haystack hard by, 

 where he gallantly sucked our friend's wounds. As no harm 

 ensued from the bite, as soon as the wounds were healed, 

 many was the laugh we all had about the affair. 



No mention has hitherto been made of one of the shooter's 

 best friends— the humble bunny ; that nimble little creature 

 which the late Lord Derby wittily described as being "three 

 inches too short." In addition to puzzling many very good 

 shots, their engaging little habits have taxed the brains of 

 some of our most learned judges when summing-up in trials on 

 the question of damages caused by them. They have put 

 thousands of pounds into the pockets of all members of the 

 legal profession ; they have set by the ears landlord, shooting- 

 tenant, and farmer, while they have been the cause of millions of 

 words both spoken and written ; but, in spite of all, the rabbit 

 yet remains a staple article of our food supply and sport. A 

 rabbit smothered in onions is still a good dish anywhere, and 

 so, likewise, is the sport they offer. 



Sometimes very easy to kill, at others very easy to miss, all 

 sportsmen are ready to engage in the fun of a rabbit day. 

 Enormous bags have been made in warrens, but the best per- 

 formance of all, to our mind, was that of Sir Victor Brooke, 

 who describes his day as follows : — 



"My bag of the 28th September, 1885, consisted of 746 

 rabbits. I shot with two guns, my cousin. Major Brooke, 

 loading for me. All the rabbits were walked up in rushes and 

 ferns, and I had a keeper with four beaters on each side. The 

 bag was made in the deer-park at Colebrooke, County Fer- 

 managh, and the bunnies were real wild ones, in contra-distinc- 

 tion to warren rabbits. In a warren it would be easy to beat 



