173 RED DEER. 



pasture, so as to cut off their return to their 

 burrows. Either oue of the poachers or a 

 lurcher next go round some distance and 

 drive everything towards it, while the other 

 poachers stand behind the net to take out 

 the rabbits as they come. In a moment or 

 two they rush from all quarters helter-skelter 

 in the darkness, and bound into the net. 

 The rabbit's head enters the mesh, and he 

 rolls over, causing it to bao- round him. The 

 poachers endeavour to get them out as fast 

 as they come to prevent their escape, and to 

 make ready for fresh captives. They wring 

 the rabbits' necks, killing them instantly. 

 Sometimes the rabbits come in such num- 

 bers and all together in a crowd, so that they 

 cannot get them out fast enough, and a few 

 manage to escape. Once, however, the 

 rabbit's head is well through the mesh, he is 

 generally safe for a quarter of an hour. 



Large catches are often made like this. 

 Sometimes as many as sixty or eighty rabbits 

 may be seen out feeding in the evening by 



