Summer Shooting. 99 



him another short breathing space by rushing away 

 at a tangent. 



Rabbits, although of 'low degree' in comparison 

 with the pheasant, really form an important item in 

 the list of the keeper's charges. Shooting generally 

 commences with picking out the young rabbits about 

 the middle or towards the end of the hay harvest, 

 according as the season is early or late. Some are 

 shot by the farmers, who have the right to use a gun, 

 earlier than this, while they still disport in the 

 mowing grass. It requires experience and skill to 

 select the young rabbit just fit for table from the old 

 bucks, the does which may yet bring forth another 

 litter, and those little bunnies that do not exceed the 

 size of rats. 



The grass conceals the body of the animal, and 

 nothing is visible beyond the tips of the ears ; and at 

 thirty yards distance one pair of ears is very like 

 another pair. The developed ear is, however, less 

 pointed than the other ; and in the rabbit of a proper 

 size they are or seem to be wider apart. The eye is 

 also guided by the grass itself and the elevation of the 

 rabbit's head above it when lifted in alarm at a chance 

 sound : if the animal is full grown of course the head 

 stands higher. In motion the difference is at once 

 seen ; the larger animal's back and flanks show boldly, 



H 2 



