Wor tiers in Woodcraft. 271 



hundred rabbits, which are sent to the markets 

 of the large manufacturing towns. He can 

 employ what engines against them he pleases, 

 but the number must be produced. Firing a 

 hundred shots a day is now more jarring than it 

 was once; it has made him slightly deaf, and he 

 adopts other means of destruction. He works 

 the warrens in winter, but long waiting for a 

 glutted ferret in frost and snow is not pleasant. 

 Under favourable conditions, however, a great 

 many rabbits may be taken in this way. Iron 

 spring traps are used in the rabbit tracks, but 

 these are impracticable on a large scale; and the 

 pheasants and partridges, which run much, are 

 apt to be caught in them. Moreover it is now 

 illegal to set these traps in the open. The most 

 certain and wholesale method of capture is by the 

 11 well-trap." This is a pit, placed immediately 

 opposite to a hole in the fence through which 

 the rabbits run from the woods to the field or 

 pasture. Through the " run " a wooden trough 

 is inserted, and as the rabbits pass through the 

 floor opens beneath their weight and they drop 

 into the "well." Immediately the pressure is 

 removed the floor springs back to its original 

 position ; and thus a score or more rabbits may 

 often be taken in a single night. In the con- 

 struction of these traps rough and unbarked 

 wood is used, and even then the rabbits will not 

 take them for weeks. Then they become familiar, 



