The Wild Rabbit Warrens. 175 



will knock it about sufficiently well ; if not, a light harrow 

 must be employed, and the land rolled subsequently ; while, 

 when necessary, grass seed should be sown, in quantity 

 sufficient to put fresh life into the pasture. Land which will 

 not maintain its freshness, and give no sign of becoming 

 sour year after year without more elaborate treatment than 

 this, is certainly not worth much for the purpose. 



In the chapter on the Natural History of Rabbits, it will 

 be seen what particular features of land are most conducive 

 to the comfort of the stock, and, consequently, to their health 

 and increase ; obviously, the more one can increase and 

 foster such characteristics the more beneficial to a natural 

 warren. On such warrens as require the establishment of 

 covert in any great quantities, one must look to the descrip- 

 tion of what exists already, or on neighbouring lands ; for 

 certainly that kind will be most easily produced. For 

 planting any large acreage, or odd corners about the estate, 

 the best, and probably least expensive plan, is to sow with 

 grass or broom, while old bramble roots, taken from beneath, 

 and adjacent to hedges, will quickly take root if roughly 

 planted. Rabbits are sometimes peculiar in their preferences 

 for particular localities; and it will occasionally be found 

 that while one portion of a warren has become almost 

 entirely overrun, the remainder is nearly neglected. To 

 obviate this various means may be taken to induce the 

 rabbits to burrow in the neglected parts, the most efficacious 

 being to produce a spot particularly suited to their tastes. 

 The simplest mode is to make a collection of old tree roots, 

 stumps of wood, and dead fir branches. Having piled these 

 together in indiscriminate confusion, but not above two or 



