236 THE KABBIT. 



of the colony. Nearer and louder it sounds, till, 

 on the night stillness, it resembles the tread of 

 a galloping horse. Suddenly the net shakes, and 

 number one is fast in the meshes. 



Thump-thump-thump ! Pitter-pat, pitter-pat, 

 pitter-pat ! Everywhere rabbits can be heard ; the 

 whole place seems alive with them ; yet, save for the 

 shaking of the net and the occasional flash of a 

 white tail, there is nothing to be seen. The noise 

 becomes louder here and there the dark outline 

 of a cony is seen for an instant as it nips over the 

 wall. The net veritably creaks one thinks that 

 the pegs must ere long be torn up by the solid 

 weight of rabbits flooding into it ; then there is a 

 sniffing and a snorting, and close behind the rear- 

 guard of the rabbit-colony the little spaniel heaves 

 in view, having done his work well. The net must 

 now be emptied without a moment's waste of time, 

 for the rabbits are already escaping, like herrings 

 from a salmon-net. In half-an-hour all is cleared 

 up, and we hasten silently to the other side of 

 the wood, or, perhaps, to the other side of the 

 valley, to repeat the performance. 



Rabbit-netting is generally regarded as a poach- 

 ing, disreputable game, and so, alas ! it often is ; 

 but in many parts of the country it is resorted to 

 as one of the events of the year ! In the part of 

 Scotland where the writer lives, for example, no 

 one troubles to shoot rabbits, there being so much 

 nobler game to be had everywhere, with the result 

 that in some seasons rabbits exist in thousands, a 

 serious annoyance to farmers and foresters, eating 

 the grass, and stripping the young trees of their 

 bark. It is then that netting begins in earnest, 

 and to the accompaniment of dry humour and 

 an occasional wee dram a rollicking evening is 



