THE RABBIT 257 



is to assert, once and for all, that on no account must 

 ferreting be used for making the rabbits lie out. Gas- 

 tar is the only thing to use. Let every hole be blocked 

 about five days before the shoot, and let the thrown-up 

 earth be sprinkled with the tar. Next day go round the 

 holes again, and block as before. Do this every day 

 till the time of the shoot, and the process is complete. 

 Your whole stock is in the warren, eating in the open, 

 or lying among the bracken or round the foot of trees, 

 or under the heaps of faggots. Let this method be 

 tested once, and such processes as ferreting, smoking, 

 and the like will pass into the limbo of archaic ignorance. 



With regard to a warren shoot, it is only necessary 

 to remind the beaters that they must prod, and not beat 

 out the rabbits. Every foot of the ground must be 

 carefully probed, faggots must be thoroughly over- 

 turned and explored, dogs must be kept well leashed 

 and brought up to the line. There must be no stragglers. 

 The whole party of guns and beaters should move across 

 the warren like a battalion of infantry advancing in line. 

 There must be no dangerous rushes forward by beaters 

 or dogs. 



Never attempt to suggest that rabbits be driven to 

 the guns. It is simply slaughter and not sport, as the 

 wretched creatures come crawling up to the guns, and 

 the shooter soon tires, or his guns get so hot that he 

 has to lay them down. Walking in line over a rough 

 grass field after rabbits have been bolted is sport, but 

 driving to the guns is not. 

 17 



