104 The Gamekeeper at Home. 



by one single little pellet in the great sinew of the hind 

 leg, which had partly cut it through. Had it been a 

 rabbit he would certainly have escaped into a bury, 

 and there, perhaps died, as shot wounds frequently 

 fester : so that in stalking rabbits, or waiting for them 

 behind a tree or bush, it is much better to take a 

 steady aim at the head, and so avoid torturing the 

 creature. 



1 Potting ' is hardly sport, yet it has an advantage 

 to those who take a pleasure in observing the ways of 

 bird and animal. There is just sufficient interest to 

 induce one to remain quiet and still, which is the prime 

 condition of seeing anything ; and in my own case 

 the rabbits so patiently stalked have at last often 

 gone free, either from their own amusing antics, or 

 because the noise of the explosion would disturb 

 something else under observation. In winter it is too 

 cold ; then you step quietly and yet briskly up to a 

 fence or a gateway, and glance over, and shoot at 

 once ; or with the spaniels hunt the bunnies from the 

 fern upon the banks, yourself one side of the hedge 

 and the keeper the other. 



In excavating his dwelling, the rabbit, thoughtless 

 of science, constructs what may be called a natural 

 auditorium singularly adapted for gathering the ex- 

 piring vibrations of distant sound. His round tunnel 



