1 8 MY NATURE NOTEBOOK. 



he dreads, both for lambs and ewes, is wet ; and for 

 this reason you will see that, even on the bleak east 

 coast, the lambing yards are placed high up the slopes 

 of the rolling landscape. The wind may whistle as 

 it likes, but the thick furze hurdles keep it out of the 

 comfortable straw-padded pens, where, in response to 

 anxious inquiries, the smiling shepherd will tell you 

 that all the mothers and their children are doing as 

 well as can be expected. 



A BAD TIME FOR THE RABBITS. 



And, as most rustic operations are made to fit 

 into each other, you will generally find that the 

 farmer achieves the comfort of his lambs and the 

 discomfiture of the devastating rabbits by the same 

 stroke. For the furze-brake is the rabbit's strong- 

 hold, where he defies all human or canine pursuit ; 

 but when furze is needed to shelter the lambing-yard, 

 the wily farmer has it cut in cross channels through 

 and through the brakes, thus opening short cuts to 

 the interior of every part of the rabbits' defences. 

 Altogether the interregnum between the game-shoot- 

 ing season, which legally ends with January, but has 

 practically ceased upon most estates for weeks before- 

 hand, and the nesting season, is always a bad one 

 for the rabbits. These and wood-pigeons are the 

 keeper's perquisites, and he makes the most of the 

 short interval when his gun, dogs, and ferrets may 

 be busy in the warrens and coppices without inter- 

 fering with his master's sport or the pheasants' 

 breeding. So the bunny has his special shooting 

 season, which, though short, is sharp. 



