128 Studies in Rat Catching. [cH. vii, 



for this reason it is twice as easy to kill 

 rabbits in Gloucestershire as it is in Norfolk, 

 especially in the sandy or soft soil of the 

 latter county. 



Let me here beg of all my readers, espe- 

 cially students, never to keep a poor rabbit 

 alive in their hands a second. I don't 

 suppose any who read this book could be so 

 unsportsmanlike and brutal as to keep a 

 rabbit alive to course and torture over again 

 with dogs, or for the fun of shooting at the 

 poor little beast. Such ruffians should never 

 be allowed a day's sport on a gentleman s 

 property. They are only fit to go out mole- 

 catching. No, directly you have a live 

 rabbit in your hand, take it by its hind legs 

 with your right hand, and the head with your 

 left, with two fingers under its face; with 

 these fingers turn the head back, and give 

 the rabbit a smart quick stretch, and in an 

 instant all its sufferings are over. Never hit 



