400 SHOOTING. 



they will make to escape, though three legs be 

 broken, when near the entrance of a burrow. It- 

 is of little use firing at them when they are more 

 than twenty paces distant from the gun. Rabbits 

 afford more what are termed snap-shots than any 

 other game, as they are mostly found in or near to 

 plantations, or amongst brambles, hollies, gorse, or 

 deep fern, in places of extreme difficulty. It re- 

 quires a quick eye and steady hand to stop a rabbit 

 running across furrows, or over uneven ground. 

 Rabbits for sale, or when destroyed as vermin, are 

 oftener taken by means of ferrets and nets, than 

 killed by the gun. It would be well that a com- 

 panion or servant should lead a dog in a slip, 

 a terrier is as good as any, to be loosed the 

 moment the gun is fired ; thus many a rabbit 

 will be secured that would else have run into its 

 hole. When earthed, it frequently happens that 

 a rabbit is not able to crawl more than three or 

 four feet deep from the surface, where it dies, when 

 it may be recovered by thrusting a bramble down 

 the hole, and twisting it so as to entangle the 

 rabbit ; but a more certain method, if the rabbit is 

 not too far down, is to screw the worm of the ram- 

 rod into its body, and so drag it out, as a cartridge 

 is drawn from the barrel of a gun. The best time 

 for rabbit shooting is in the evening, or during 

 sunshine after a shower, when great numbers of 

 the rabbits venture from their burrows. 



