Friend reader, did you ever see the rabbit bounding along through the
bushes, when you have been walking in the woods? When a boy, I used
often to be amused at the gambols of the rabbits, in the woods near my
father's house. They do not run very gracefully or very fast, and a dog
easily overtakes them. It seems cruel to hunt them, and set snares for
them; and yet if they are wanted for food, doubtless there is no harm in
taking their life. The way in which I used to catch them, years ago,
when the sources of my enjoyment were widely different from what they
are at present, was by means of a box-trap with a lid to it, so adjusted
that the poor rabbit, when he undertook to nibble the apple, attached to
the spindle for a bait, sprung the trap, and made himself a prisoner.
Another method we used to employ to catch the rabbit, was something like
this: a fence was made of brush-wood, about three feet high, and
reaching some rods in length. The brush in this fence was interlaced so
closely, that rabbits and partridges could not get through except at
intervals of a few yards, where there was a door. At this door was a
noose connecting with a flexible pole, which was bent down for the
purpose. The unsuspecting rabbit, in his journeyings from place to
place, comes to the fence. He could leap over, if he should try. But he
thinks it cheaper to walk through the door, especially as there is a
choice bit of apple suspended over the entrance.
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