62 THE RABBIT 



animals should always be put into the burrows on 

 arrival. Strange rabbits, he says, if put down in the 

 open, will wander round the outskirts at the fence, 

 and will lie and sulk for some time before they find 

 a burrow ; whereas when put into the burrows they 

 stick to them, and are sooner at home. When a 

 mound is finished, it should slope with a curve to the 

 bottom of the trench out of which the soil has been 

 dug, where it will be about five yards in diameter. 

 Should the soil or subsoil be of such a nature as to 

 cause the rain water and drainings from the heap to 

 stand in the trench, grips or drains should be made 

 to the nearest field drain or outlet to let the water off. 

 The object of having these mounds of moderate 

 size, and about loo yards apart, is to ensure the 

 rabbits cropping the pasture regularly in every part, 

 from beginning to end of the season, and a greater 

 distance than loo yards apart is not desirable, as 

 experience will soon prove. Besides, rabbits breed 

 best in small colonies. If there be objections to the 

 mounds being so close, they may be put wider apart, 

 but they must be proportionately larger. Two men 

 will throw the heaps up in a very short time, and 

 should the ground come to be used for any other 

 purpose, they can be quickly levelled down again. ^ 



' See some very practical remarks on ' Artificial Rabbit 

 Burrows ' in The Field of Ma.xch i8, 1893. 



