The Old Punt 27 



' Look ! whispers Orion, suddenly. The quill 

 above the blue buoy nods as it lifts over the wavelets 

 nods again, sinks a little, jerks up, and then goes 

 down out of sight. Orion feels the weight. ' Two 

 pounds, if he's an ounce ! ' he shouts : soon after a 

 iplendid perch is in the boat, nearer three pounds 

 perhaps than two. Flop ! whop ! how he leaps up 

 and down on the planks, soiled by the mud, dulling 

 his broad back and barred sides on the grit and 

 sand. 



Roaming about like this with the gun, now on 

 the water in the punt, and now on land, we gradually 

 came to notice very closely the game we wished to 

 shoot. We saw, for instance, that the rabbit when 

 feeding or moving freely, unless quickened by alarm, 

 has a peculiar way of dwelling upon his path. It 

 almost resembles creeping ; for both fore feet stop 

 while the hinder come up one hinder foot slightly 

 behind the other, and rather wide apart. 



When a fall of snow presents a perfect impression 

 of his passage, it appears as if the animal had walked 

 slowly backwards. This deceives many who at such 

 times go out to pick up anything that comes in their 

 way ; for they trace the trail in the wrong direction. 

 The truth is, that when the rabbit pauses for the 

 hinder feet to come up he again rests momentarily 



