THE GAMEKEEPER AND HIS GOLGOTHA. 91 



dred shots a day is now more jarring than it 

 once was, it has made him slightly deaf, and 

 he adopts other means of destruction. He 

 works the warrens in winter, but long waiting 

 for a glutted ferret in frost and snow is not 

 pleasant. Under favourable conditions, how- 

 ever, a great many rabbits may be taken in this 

 way. Iron spring traps are used in the rabbit 

 tracks, but these are impracticable on a large 

 scale ; and pheasants and partridges, which run 

 much, are apt to be caught in them. More- 

 over, it is now illegal to set these traps in the 

 open. 



The most certain and wholesale method of 

 capture is by the " well-trap." This is a pit, 

 placed immediately opposite to a hole in a 

 fence through which the rabbits run from woods 

 to field or pasture. Through this "run" a 

 wooden trough is inserted; and as the rabbits 

 pass through, the floor opens beneath their 

 weight and they drop into the "well." Im- 

 mediately the pressure is removed the floor 

 springs back to its original position ; thus a score 

 or more rabbits may often be taken in a single 

 night. In the construction of these traps rough 

 and unbarked wood is used, and even then the 



