184 Practical Game Preserving. 



expended we must leave would-be warren proprietors to 

 decide for themselves. One thing a wire fence is capable of, 

 namely, being stepped over, and it therefore behoves the 

 owner of the establishment it surrounds to be careful that 

 none but those who have a right to do so should pass this 

 limit. There is no more easy thing to poach than a rabbit, 

 and no place where it is more easily done many times than 

 on a rabbit warren ; so that due vigilance must be observed 

 to prevent or be present at the visits of the light-footed, 

 light-fingered gentry, who occasionally make free with 

 warren rabbits. 



And this brings us to the question of labour ; for a warren 

 cannot be worked without warreners. On every establish- 

 ment of this kind there should be a certain number of 

 resident warreners, or keepers, whose duty it should be to 

 foster the stock in every possible way ; to protect the warren 

 from poachers and thieves, and generally to look after the 

 place. The number of acres each man can manage depends 

 upon the locality and character of the warren. In some 

 instances the permanent men need not be more than one 

 to every five hundred acres ; in others, a fifth of this quantity 

 of land is all that one may be able satisfactorily to deal 

 with. Then, again on such warrens as require extra 

 artificial food, a labourer will be frequently required. At 

 killing time, also, extra hands will be indispensable, and no 

 doubt easily obtained ; for this business comes to the fore 

 when other work is getting slack in rural occupations, and 

 there will be found plenty of cheaply-obtained men only 

 too delighted to get a few months' work on a warren at 

 catching time. 



