PRELIMINARIES. 15 



worms live rather longer in a tin. The country- 

 dweller must have his bag or tin, but he need not 

 incur expense for worms. The one kind, brandlings, 

 may be found readily in a manure-heap which is 

 neither too new nor too old a few turns with a 

 fork will soon show whether it contains worms. 



The other kind, lobworms, can be found on the 

 lawn at night, when there has been rain or heavy 

 dew. Catching them makes the back ache, but is 

 sport of a mild kind. The sportsman arms himself 

 with a lighted candle and a watering-pot or small 

 bucket, and then proceeds up and down the lawn, 

 stooping so that the candle throws its light on the 

 grass in front of him. He will soon come on a 

 lobworm lying full length on the grass, and, 

 putting the candle down, will make a grab. At 

 first he will miss his prey, for the worms are very 

 quick at retreating backwards into their holes ; but 

 with practice he will learn to seize them with finger 

 and thumb before they can escape. It is well to 

 aim not at the head, which is on the grass, but at 

 the tail, which is usually just inside the hole. 

 Each worm as it is caught is dropped into the can, 

 and on a good evening a couple of hundred can be 

 caught in an hour. Sometimes a worm when seized 

 will be found to cling tight to its hole with its 

 tail. It should not be pulled out forcibly, or it will 



