296 Poachers and Poaching. 



there will be digging, and no end of trouble in 

 getting it out. 



From what has been already said, and from 

 the uncertainty of ferreting, it will be understood 

 why the poacher can only afford to use the best 

 animals. Of the many modes of taking the 

 " coney," ferreting is the most common. Of 

 course this is the poacher's method ; but it varies 

 little from that of the gamekeeper or the legiti- 

 mate " sportsman." When the rabbits can be 

 induced to bolt freely very good sport can be 

 had ; but in this respect they are most capricious. 

 They bolt best on a windy day and before noon ; 

 after that they are sluggish, and often refuse to 

 come out at all. As the rabbit " darts across 

 a narrow ride like a little brown shadow, quick 

 must be the eye and ready the hand that can 

 get the gun to the shoulder and discharge it in 

 the brief second that elapses between the ap- 

 pearance of a tiny brown nose on one side the 

 path and the vanishing of a little snow-white 

 patch of down on the other." Those that have 

 ferreted much have probably seen strange reve- 

 lations while indulging in the sport. A mound 

 or brae sometimes seems to explode with rabbits, 

 so wildly do they fly before their enemy. We 

 have seen twenty rabbits driven from one set of 

 holes. When the ferrets are running the burrows, 

 stoats and weasels are occasionally driven out ; 



