rabbiter

The rabbiter or digger-cove will stand a bloke a feed.

Hunger in the Air 1986

Tasker, however, was lodging not far from the wood, with a small farmer named Emanuel Howden, who also occasionally acted as a watchman; and the two men, accompanied by the “rabbiter,”

Records of Woodhall Spa and Neighbourhood Historical, Anecdotal, Physiographical, and Archaeological, with Other Matter James Conway Walter

The rabbiter looked at a pair of dilapidated worsted socks and at one protruding toe; he was not sure whether he had gone to bed for the second time in these or in his boots.

Stingaree 1893

At last the rabbiter fell into a doze, and when he awoke the auspicious music filled the tent.

Stingaree 1893