Poachers and Poaching. 19 



are quickly clapped to the holes as the rabbits 

 bolt, these invariably being taken, except where 

 a couple come together. Standing on the 

 mound a shot would stop these as they go 

 bounding through the dead leaves ; but this 

 would bring up the keeperj and so the poacher 

 practices self-denial. Unlike hares, rabbits 

 rarely squeal when they become entangled ; and 

 this allows the poacher to ferret long and 

 silently. Rabbits that refuse to take the net are 

 sometimes eaten into by the ferret, but still 

 refuse to bolt. If a rabbit makes along a blind 

 burrow followed by a ferret, the former is killed, 

 and the latter gluts itself upon the body. When 

 this occurs it is awkward for the poacher ; the 

 ferret in such case usually curls itself up and 

 goes to sleep ; left to itself it might stay in the 

 hole for days ; and so it has either to be dug or 

 starved out. Both processes are long, the 

 burrows ramifv far into the bank, and it is not 



j ' 



certainly known in which the ferret remains. 



The poacher's wholesale method of night 

 poaching for rabbits is by means of two long 

 nets. These are set parallel to each other along 

 the edge of a wood, and about thirty yards 

 out into the field or pasture. Only about four 

 inches divides the nets. A clear star-lit night 

 is best for the work, and at the time the nets are 

 set the ground game is far out feeding. The nets 

 are long the first small in mesh, that immediately 



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