It looked scarcely possible for a rabbit to creep out without being caught, the loop being enlarged to correspond with the mouth of the hole.

For a while it seemed as if the rabbits declined to use the hole at all; presently, however, the loop was pushed back, showing that one must have got his nose between it and the bank and so made a safe passage sideways.

A run that crossed the field was then selected, and the wire erected at about the middle of it, equidistant from either hedge.

Near the entrance of the buries the rabbits moved slowly, sniffing their way along and pausing every yard or so.

But they often increased their speed farther away, and sometimes raced from one mound to the other.