CHAPTER XXIV. THE WILD RABBIT. 



WARRENS: THEIR ORGANISATION AND MANAGEMENT. 



subject of rabbit warrens has deservedly attracted 

 JL much attention, and it may not be inadvisable, therefore, 

 to enlarge upon it somewhat. To our thinking, every well 

 organised sporting estate should comprise a warren for 

 rabbits, provided circumstances of locality and surroundings 

 permit, and this for reasons pecuniary and otherwise which 

 are sufficiently obvious to those who give the matter a 

 moment's thought. 



That the ubiquitous coney is not to be despised as an 

 article of food must be admitted ; and when its remarkable 

 fecundity and the ease with which it adapts itself to locality 

 are considered, it becomes evident that its production might, 

 with profit, be increased extensively. The idea of creating 

 large rabbit warrens is by no means a latter-day one ; for 

 we find that about the end of the last century and the com- 

 mencement of the present, the rural world, and no doubt the 

 urban one to some extent as well, was devoting some atten- 

 tion to it, which resulted eventually in the formation and 

 maintenance of considerable numbers of more or less exten- 



