156 The Gamekeepei' at Home. 



•enced person chancing to see a hare sitting like this 

 would naturally stop short in walking to get a better 

 view ; whereupon the animal, feeling that he was 

 observed, would instantly make a rush. You must 

 persuade the hare that he is unseen ; and so long as 

 he notices no start or sign of recognition — his eye is 

 on you from first entering the field — he will remain 

 •still, believing that you will pass. 



The poacher, having marked his game, looks 

 steadily in front of him, never turning his head, but 

 insensibly changes his course and quietly approaches 

 sidelong. Then, in the moment of passing, he falls 

 quick as lightning on his knee, and seizes the hare 

 just behind the poll. It is the only place where the 

 sudden grasp would hold him in his convulsive terror 

 — he is surprisingly powerful — and almost ere he can 

 shriek (as he will do) the left hand has tightened 

 round the hind legs. Stretching him to his full 

 length across the knee, the right thumb, with a pecu- 

 liar twist, dislocates his neck, and he is dead in an 

 instant. There is something of the hangman's knack 

 in this, which is the invariable way of killing rabbits 

 when ferreted or caught alive ; and yet it is the most 

 merciful, for death is instantaneous. It is very easy 

 to sprain the thumb while learning the trick. 



A poacher will sometimes place his hat gently on 



