78 TRAPPING. 



wires are made to form a running loop, just such as we form with 

 string; only the wires are so arranged that they all unite to form 

 the one loop. No ingenious person could fail to form the loop, 

 after a few minutes' handling of the wire. It is so simple that 

 it will suggest itself. The loop thus made, is set across a run, so 

 that the top of the loop stands say about six inches from the 

 ground; and in order to keep it in its proper position, a peg of 

 wood is driven in the ground a little way from the run, and in 

 the top of the peg there is a slit which serves to catch the ends 

 of the wires and holds them in position. The wires must be tied 

 firmly at the end to a string, which may lie on the ground; the 

 end of the string should then be tied to a bough sufficiently high from 

 the ground to yield a little when it is pulled. This yielding of the 

 bough prevents the rabbit from snapping the string, which it would 

 otherwise do in its endeavors to escape. 



There is an ingenious mode of taking rabbits by single wires and 

 what is called a springle, the same in principle as the spring pole. 

 A strong and springy stick is stuck deep into the ground in an up- 

 right direction; its smaller end is then bent over, and also buried 

 sufficiently in the ground to keep it down. To this end a wire is 

 tied by a short string, and when the rabbit is caught, his first jump 

 pulls the end of the springle out of the soil, and it then lifts the 

 rabbit completely from the ground, thereby depriving him of all 

 power of escape. 



