SOME POINTS IN LA W 49 



labourer), though he should be taken for an odd day to 

 beat a covert or to kill vermin, or to do any duty for a 

 gamekeeper. Similarly a gun licence is not required 

 by a person sent out with a gun to kill vermin i.e. 

 animals of a purely noxious kind, such as weasels, stoats, 

 etc. At one time it was thought that rabbits were 

 vermin, but it has now been settled that no one can 

 shoot rabbits, even under the Ground Game Act, with- 

 out a gun licence. The only exceptions from the need 

 of agame licence which require notice here are ( i ) The 

 taking or destroying of conies (rabbits) in Great Britain ; 

 (2) the killing of hares (a) in England, by one person 

 authorised in writing by the occupier of the land ; (b) in 

 Scotland, by the owner or lessee of any land, or any 

 person authorised by him in writing ; (3) the killing or 

 taking of ground game under the Ground Game Act ; 

 (4) coursing or hunting hares or deer with hounds ; and 

 (5)the taking of woodcock or snipe with nets or springes 

 in Great Britain. A keeper's game licence can only 

 be taken out by his employer, who has himself a full 

 licence to kill game. Such a licence is not available 

 except on the land on which his employer has the right 

 to kill game. Such a licence may be transferred to a 

 new keeper, if the keeper for whom it was taken out 

 dies or leaves his employment while the licence is 

 current. The officer of excise who issued the licence 

 must indorse the name of the new keeper on the licence 

 before the transference can take effect. 



Gamedealers licences. Only persons who hold the 

 4 



