156 ANIMALS USED BY THE SHOOTER. 



the loop (a) is underneath ; next place the nose in the loop 

 (b c, Fig. 5), and slipping one of the ends of the first string 



(Fig. 4) through the noose (d, Fig. 5), tie the two tightly 

 together ; next pass one of the ends at e (Fig. 5) through 

 the small loop (a, Fig. 4), and tie them also tightly, when the 

 ferret is muzzled. Any person may put this on with a little 

 practice, but it requires rather more to use a single piece of 

 whipcord, as the struggles of the ferret have to be overcome. 

 The plan is to slip first a noose over the jaws, then bringing 

 the ends round the neck, they are tied above, and one of the 

 ends being slipped through the string as it lies over the nose, 

 it is tied to the other on the forehead. Net bags are made 

 to take in the whole head, but they hold the claws of the 

 ferret when it attempts to scratch them off, and are not at 

 all useful. Leather muzzles are also bometimes employed, but 

 they do not answer so well as the cord. When the ferrets 

 are thus guarded they are put into the earths, in such a posi- 

 tion that the rabbits will be bolted on the other side of a 

 hedge or bank, which must be silently watched by the sports- 

 man, who shoots them as they bolt. But the worst of the 

 plan is, that after the first discharge of the gun the rabbits 

 do not bolt freely, and they are very apt to cause the ferrets 

 to " lie up," even though they are securely muzzled. When 

 this is the case, all that can be done is either to watch 

 patiently till they come out, or to dig them out, which latter 

 plan cannot always be carried out in strong or rocky 

 ground. 



THE SHOOTING PONY. 



On the moors especially, but sometimes also in partridge 

 shooting, and even in the battue, the shooter prefers four legs 

 to two. This may arise either from inability to walk, or 

 from disinclination, or perhaps from both combined in many 

 instances. Colonel Hawker advised that the sportsman 

 should have a pony calculated to carry double, and that in 



