Book VII. THE RABBIT. 1073 



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one of wjiich was examined by the committee of manufacturers. The yam wtis spun by Messrs. Pease, 

 of Darlington, and was woven by Messrs. Miller and Sons, of Paisley. Mr. Tower's shawl was cornpared 

 with one made in Scotland, of French shawUgoat wool, to which it was evidently far superior. It was 

 also compared with a shawl of M, Terneau's own make ; and was considered by very competent judges 

 ^o be superior to this also. (Tra/w. Soc. yir/5, vol. xlvi. as quoted in Grt;rf. 3/^'^. vol. vii.) 



*^ 7341. The rabbit (Lepua Cuniculus L., Jig. 907.) is indigenous in most temperate 

 climates, but not so far to the north as the hare. 



907 7342. J; a wild state it forms long winding burrows ; keeps its 



hole by day j feeds morning, evening, and night on vegetables 

 and grain; is the prey of hawks, badgers, polecats, and caught 

 by ferrets.; gravid thirty days, brings from four to eight young, 

 five, and sometimes as many as seven times a year. The varieties 

 common in Britain are the white, black, variegated, and silvery 

 grey. The hare and rabbit are distinguished from each other 

 externally, chiefly by the proportional length of the hind legs to 



^^^ ^ ^^'^e back, and in tne ears of the hare being longer, and 



, ^^^jTL^iiSa^^*^^** those of the rabbit shorter than the head. The haunts of rabbits 

 >e>yV??)iMt^^ gj.g ggijgj warrens ; which are most numerous in the sandy soils 



/ii Norfolk and Cambridgeshire. They sometimes extend to 2000 or 3000 acres, and many have been 

 hitherto considered to pay better in that state than in any other. Arthur Young, however, has shown in 

 jiis Survey qf iMicolnnhire, that though a rabbit warren may afford a high interest on the capital of the 

 occupier, yet the rent it affords to the owner of the soil is less than would ultimately be obtained by plant- 

 ing or breaking up, and laying down with chiccory or some other suitable herbage plant. In the mean 

 time, as they continue to exist, and are subjected to a kind of management, we shall submit a short 

 outline of it under the heads of extent, soil and situation, fencing, stocking, breeding, rearing, and pro- 

 duce. Afterwards we shall take a view of the mode of managing rabbits in hutches. 



7343. Tlie extent of warrens varies from 100 to 3000 acres, but a convenient size is cOnsiderotl to be 1500 

 or 2000 acres. The soil and situation should be dry, sandy, warm, and poor ; rich grass or herbage being 

 ibund to produce a scouring, which sometimes carries off the greater part of the stock. VVarreps are 

 igenerally enclosed with walls either of stone or turf, an essential addition to the latter being" a coping 

 ^of furze, reeds, or stiff straw. Palhig is used in some places, but a brook is found insutiicient, as the rab- 

 bits have been found to swim across. 



\{ 7344. Warrens are qften stocked by nature, and all that art has to do in that case is to protect the pro- 

 .4uce; but in some cases they are formed on ground where rabbits do not exist naturally, or where they 

 i'iexist it is considered desirable to change the breed. 



7345. In stocking a warren, whether the surface be flat or hilly, artificial burrows are sometimes made, 

 iHto reconcile the rabbits to the ground, and to preserve them from vermin, until they have time to make . 

 their own burrows. These are bored with an auger of a diameter large enough to make a burrow of a 

 fufficient width. In a level warren, these augers may, from time to time, be found useful in forming 

 6uch holes. They, however, in most cases, are capable of making burrows for themselves. Some warren 

 lands are stocked in the proportion of three couple to an acre; while in others it is in a considerably 

 larger proportion. In Lincolnshire, one buck or male rabbit is said to be sufficient for one hundred does, 

 or females; but this is certainly a much larger proportion than in most other districts. On the wold 

 warrens of Yorkshire, according to Marshal, one male is considered sufficient for only six or seven females, 

 and the nearer they can be brought to that proportion the greater the stock of young ones that may be 

 expected, it being the nature or economy of the males to destroy their young, esixx^ially when the propor- 

 tional number is too great. 



7346. ne varieties employed as stock for warrens are the common grey and silver grey breeds : the 

 former of which is found to be considerably more hardy and much better for the purposes of food; but 

 the latter has greatly the advantage in the value of the skin. Till lately, the common grey rabbit, pro- 

 bably the native wild rabbit of the island, was the only species. At present, the silver-liaired rabbit is 

 sought after, and has, within the last few years, been introduced into most warrens. The skin of the grey 

 rabbit is cut ; that is, the wool is pared off the pelt, as a material for hats : whereas, that of the silver, 

 haired rabbit is dressed as fur ; which, it is said, goes principally to the East Indies. The colour is a black 

 ground, thickly interspersed with single white hairs. The skins of this variety sell for about four shillings 

 a dozen more than those of the common sort ; a sufficient inducement for propagating it in preference to 

 the grey breed. 



7347. The rabbit begins to breed at an early age, as at eight, ten, or twelve months, going only about 

 thirty days with young, the young being little more than three weeks old before they appear from the bur- 

 rows, during which time they are suckled twice in the day by the mother. It is, therefore, evident that 

 they may breed seven times in the course of the year under good keep, as the does take the buck almost 

 immediately after producing their young. In weirrens that are enclosed it is, however, said that they 

 seldom breed more than two or three times in the year. 



7348. The manageTnent of a rabbit warren is a very simple business. Birds and beasts of prey are to be 

 kept off by taking them in traps ; dogs and cats kept off, and rats, moles, mice, and other vermin destroyed 

 if abundant or troublesome. Man himself is to be guarded against in some situations. Additional food 

 is to be supplied in the winter season, when the weather is severe, such as fine green hay, saintfoin, clover, 

 turnips, and others of the same sort, which must be distributed over the warrens. It is supposed that 

 turnips answer the best in deep snows, as the rabbits can discover them by the scent. This sort of food is 

 given in the quantity of two or three large cartfuls to a thousand couple per day, and one load of hay in 

 the same time during a storm. It is likewise sometimes the practice to distribute billets of new cut ash 

 boughs, gorse or whins, and other similar woods in the warrens, the bark and other parts of which is 

 eaten, by which the proportion of hay is lessened in a considerable degree. In great snows it is necessary 

 to clear it away from the ditches or fences to prevent the rabbits from getting over them. 



734. This sort of stock is mostly taken by nets or traps, set in the form of a fold between the places 

 where they run and those where they feed, the rabbits being hunted into them as they return from feeding. 

 Sometimes they are taken by ferrets and terriers. The wold warreners^ Marshal says, have three ways of 

 catching their rabbits ; with fold nets, with spring nets, and with types, a species of trap. The fold nets 

 are set about midnight, between the burrows and the feeding grounds, the rabbits being driven in with 

 dogs, and kept enclosed in the fold until morning. But the spring net when used is, he bebeves, generally 

 laid round a haystack or other place where rabbits collect in numbers. It is added, that the trap is a 

 more modern invention. It consists of a large pit or cistern, formed within the ground and covered with 

 a floor, or with one large falling door, having a small trap-door towards its centre, into which the rabbits 

 are led by a narrow mouth. This trap, on its first introduction, was set mostly by a haystack, hay being 

 "at that time the chief winter food of rabbits, or on the outside of the warren wall, where rabbits were 

 ^tobserved to scratch much, in order to make their escape. Since the cultivation of turnips as a winter food 

 ^-fbr this species of stock has become a practice, the situation of the trap has, he says, been changed. Turnips 

 vfefting cultivated in an enclosure within the warren, a trap is placed within the wall of this enclosure. For 

 fk night or two the mouth is left open and the trap kept covered (with a board or triangular rail), in order 

 *fe give the rabbits leave to retreat. 



7350. The annual produce per acre is mostly estimated at from three or four to eight or ten couple, 

 yielding a profit of from eight to ten, or even fifteen shillings, where they are conducted under a good 



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