BABBIT SHOOTING. 75 



not be heard ; a sharp crack of a stick against the trees, but 

 not too frequently repeated, will show you more game by far 

 than the howling system. 



" I have had forty consecutive years of experience of wood- 

 cock as well as all other shooting which Scotland affords. I 

 never have kept a note of birds killed by me except of wood- 

 cocks, and of them only for the last thirty- three seasons. 

 During that space of time my sport has been extremely 

 variable, from want of favourable seasons and other circum- 

 stances. In three seasons, taken together, I have killed 43 

 woodcocks; and in three others, 885. I have my register 

 by me ; and in the last thirty-three years find I have bagged, 

 besides all other sorts of game, 4102 woodcocks; and may 

 remark that during that space of time I never have seen any- 

 thing occur worthy of remark beyond my having often 

 missed when I did not expect to have done so, and some- 

 times killed when I did not think I should have done so. 

 My two best consecutive days, 'shooting alone,' were 37 

 cocks one day and 27 the other 64 birds in two days. I 

 killed 130 cocks in ten consecutive days' shooting." 



RABBIT SHOOTING. 



Rabbit shooting is a different affair altogether from shoot- 

 ing hares, and affords, in my opinion, the very best sport in 

 covert of all, excepting only wild pheasant and woodcock 

 sooting. This, of course, has reference to the hunting them 

 with dogs, and shooting them while going at their best pace, 

 which is undoubtedly a racing one. Rabbits breed in 

 warrens, in hedgerows, and in covert, and multiply very fast 

 indeed. There are said to be several distinct varieties j but 

 I believe there is no truth in the assertion, the kind of food 

 only causing a temporary difference, and not permanently 

 causing a distinct variety. Warren rabbits removed to a 

 covert, and there allowed to breed, soon attain the same cha- 

 racters as the prior denizens of the same locality. The sport 

 of shooting rabbits is never carried on in the warrens, be- 

 cause the warren er does not wish his property wasted, and 

 prefers trapping them, for obvious reasons me being, that 

 the wounded rabbits often escape into the holes and die out 



