FERRETING 87 



quicker and longer than ordinary ferrets, whicii after 

 two years get slow and lazy. The half-bred progeny 

 while growing up require more handling and more 

 work than ordinary ferrets do, or they get shy of being 

 picked up. The second cross is perhaps the best for 

 general purposes, although the first cross produces 

 capital ratworkers round stacks where agility is indis- 

 pensable. 



On the subject of muzzling and coping much 

 difference of opinion prevails. The writer favours 

 the view that a ferret should never be muzzled, and 

 it is doubtful whether coping ought not also to be 

 dispensed with, as it clearly should be when hunting 

 rats. A coped ferret cannot kill a rabbit, but will 

 scratch and worry it in the attempt to do so. A rabbit 

 will bolt much sooner from a ferret that is free. If 

 the ferret be worked on a line, care should be taken 

 that there are no roots of trees or rocks underground, 

 or the line will soon get fast, and occasion much 

 trouble. 



It will not do to handle ferrets while they are quite 

 young, or the old one will very likely destroy them. It 

 will be time enough to handle them when half grown, 

 and it should then be done boldly without snatch- 

 ing the hand away, or it will provoke them to bite. 



As to the mode of transport nothing can be more 



