REMARKS ABOUT RABBITS 125 



as a preliminary observation, before engaging in a regular 

 fight. Suddenly a whole party rush at full speed, 

 scampering over the ground, as if they meant to run for 

 a mile at least, but unexpectedly stop short at an inviting 

 tuft of herbage, and nibble it as composedly as if they 

 had not run a yard. 



"Then a sudden panic will flash through the whole party, 

 and, with a rush and a scurry, every rabbit hops into its 

 burrow and vanishes from sight like magic. The spot 

 that was so full of life a moment before is now deserted, 

 as if it had been uninhabited for ages, but in a few 

 minutes one little nose is seen cautiously poked out of a 

 burrow, the head and ears follow, and, in a very short 

 time, the frightened rabbits have come into the light 

 of day, and have recommenced their interrupted 

 pastime." 



Where natural warrens do not exist, artificial ones are 

 sometimes constructed, but this, of course, can only be 

 done in situations where the soil is favourable. 



In Glamorganshire, there is said to be an enclosed 

 warren of 1600 or 1700 acres, within a wall. It is 

 stocked with various kinds of rabbits, and produces a very 

 good income, as much as ,1600 a year. One foreign 

 customer is said to have paid as much as ^800 per 

 annum for skins of one particular variety (probably Silver 

 Greys or Browns), for the German fairs, whence they 

 travel into Russia and the East. 



In another county it is stated that, on a farm of 

 2600 acres, a portion only of which was warren, the skins 

 and flesh of the rabbits paid the rent, besides the 



