HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Of Hsre Warrens 



it. In open ground speak to them first ; you may after- 

 wards ride over them, if you please ; but in roads and 

 paths they frequently cannot get out of your way : it surely 

 then is your business either to stop your horse, or break 

 the way for them ; and the not doing it, give me leave 

 to say, is absurd and cruel ; nor can that man be called 

 a good sportsman who thus wantonly destroys his own 

 sport. 



On the subject of Hare-warrens, Beckford observes : — 

 You wish to know how my warren-hares are caught i 

 " they are caught in traps, not unlike the common rat- 

 traps. I leave mine always at the muses, but they are 

 set only when hares are wanted : the hares, by thus con- 

 stantly going through them, have no mistrust, and are 

 easily caught. These traps should be made of old wood, 

 and even then it will be some time before they venture 

 through them. Other muses must be also left open, 

 lest a distaste should make them forsake the place. To 

 my warren I have about twenty of these traps ; though, 

 as the stock of hares is great, I seldom have occasion to 

 set more than five or six, and scarcely ever fail of catching 

 as many hares. The warren is paled in, but I found it 

 necessary to make the muses of brick ; that is, where 

 the traps are placed. Should you at any time wish to 

 make a hare-warren, it will be necessary for yovi to see 

 one first, and examine the traps, boxes, and stoppers, to 

 all which there are particularities not easy to be described. 

 Should you find the hares, towards the end of the sea- 

 son, shy of the traps, from having been often caught, it 

 will be necessary to drive them in with spaniels. Should 

 this be the case, von will find them very thick round the 



