380 LETTERS TO YOUNG SHOOTERS LETTER 



though they may breed in the spring in hundreds, by 

 the autumn, or winter scarce one in ten may be 

 alive for the gun. On heavy land rabbits, if fairly 

 numerous, rarely escape disease, and after even a few 

 days' rain they will often die outside, and especially 

 inside, their burrows, from the cold and wet that per- 

 tains to a non-porous soil. 



On light land, such as sand or chalk, the burrows 

 are always dry and warm, as the wet percolates away, 

 and as on such land the grass soon dries after rain 

 the rabbits do not so frequently eat it in the soaked 

 condition that is so injurious to their health, for wet 

 rank grass on a clay soil produces the enlarged liver 

 which soon terminates their lives. 



ON BOLTING RABBITS WITH A VIEW TO SHOOTING THEM 

 AS THEY SIT ABOVE GROUND 



Cover for the rabbits to sit in when driven out of 

 their burrows preparatory to a day's shooting is a 

 sine qua non. You cannot expect rabbits to face the 

 night dews, or the wet, if it rains, save they have 

 shelter in the open that will keep them dry. 



If the rabbits have no such shelter they are sure 

 to dig their way back into the burrows they have been 

 bolted from, whatever the precautions taken (short of 

 wire netting) to prevent their returning to ground. 



If you have really good shelter for the rabbits to 



