38 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



with ears erect and their large, soft, dark eyes 

 wide open. Can any sight be prettier? Who 

 could be heartless enough to take the life of these 

 creatures under such circumstances? Strange 

 though it may appear, should one of these very 

 rabbits dash across the hill, or get up in the open 

 field in front of me, I am quite sure that, if I had 

 a gun with me, I should do my best to knock it 

 over. Such a feeling is, I suppose, indicative of 

 one's sporting instincts. Circumstances alter 

 cases. To shoot any game sitting is an un- 

 doubtedly low action, and unworthy of a true 

 sportsman. 



The instant a rabbit has reason to become 

 apprehensive of danger, he strikes hard on the 

 ground with his hind-leg in order to give warning 

 to his brethren and kinsfolk to be on the lookout 

 and prepare to make tracks, which they do to the 

 utmost of their ability. Confidence being once more 

 restored, they come hopping out again from the 

 edges of the covert, now and again stopping to 

 nibble a few mouthfuls of grass ; then a few long- 

 hops and another halt, until they have proceeded 

 as far as they think prudent. 



Where the soil is light and keepers are slack in 

 the performance of their duties, rabbits get terribly 

 poached, it being the easiest thing in the world 

 for a man single-handed, with the aid of a dog, to 

 procure as many as he may desire. The dog 

 hunts the rabbit to ground, or else shows the hole 

 where one may be, and an iron bar or an ordinary 



