168 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



being of the sporting rights. But during the cutting 

 of the corn few farmers or sportsmen deny their local 

 workers the privilege and pleasure of catching rabbits. 

 Where permission is withheld it is usually by a small 

 farmer, who looks to the rabbits to help with the 

 rent. The keeper is the last to make objection to the 

 catching of the rabbits, provided that the hares and 

 the winged game are not only spared, but given a 

 chance to escape. He even finds it a profitable policy 

 to help catch the rabbits, and hand over what he 

 catches to be shared out to those who have failed in 

 the scurry and scramble of the sport. If there is 

 any rule or custom about possession of the spoil it is 

 that he who kills a rabbit keeps it. This may be a 

 good rule for those who are lucky those whose work 

 brings them into each field as it is cut, who excel with 

 stick and stone, or are better runners than their fellows. 

 But it is a bad rule for those who are unlucky ; while 

 a carter who sits on a binder from daylight to 

 dark for a month has perhaps the best chance, 

 another who must spend his time drilling turnips, or 

 ploughing a distant field, will never so much as see a 

 rabbit. 



* * * 



The self-binder has favoured the chance of escape for 

 those rabbits that camp out in the corn. In these 

 days of neatly tied sheaves the rabbit that makes a 

 dash, with a little dodging and jumping, may find 



