92 PROTECTION OF WOODLANDS. 



(e) The damage done by Hares consists in the nibbling of the 

 buds of broad-leaved species, less frequently of conifers, and the 

 gnawing of the bark of certain species, above all the Acacia, and 

 then the Beech and fruit trees; but this gnawing of the bark 

 usually only takes place in hard winters, when there is a decided 

 want of other nourishment. Hares can be very troublesome by 

 infesting nurseries and enclosures for raising seedlings. 



(/) Rabbits do very much the same sort of injury as hares, by 

 nibbling buds and young plants (even one-year-old Scots Pine), 

 but occasionally cause somewhat greater damage by gnawing the 

 bark, particularly of Beech, Hornbeam, Acacia, Oak, and Larch, 

 whilst in young plantations they can cause a good deal of injury 

 and annoyance by undermining the soil with their burrows. In 

 consequence of their prolificness and rapid increase, and of their 

 maintaining themselves permanently on one and the same area, 

 the damage done is often very much felt, so that in falls and crops 

 near rabbit-warrens there are often blanks which it is uncommonly 

 difficult to fill up. 



(49.) Factors determining the Extent of the Damage done ly Game. 



The extent of the damage that may be caused by game is de- 

 pendent on many different circumstances. As has already been 

 stated in the foregoing paragraph, it varies with the species of 

 game, and still more according to the strength of the head main- 

 tained, the conditions relative to nourishment and fodder avail- 

 able for the game, and finally the species of trees and the sylvi- 

 cultural treatment given to the crops. 



A large head of game invariably leads to much greater damage 

 proportionately, as may especially be noted in deer-parks, where 

 also the greater frequency of stripping the bark cannot fail to be 

 noted. So long as the deer have a sufficiency of green food in 

 summer, whether supplied by succulent wild grasses, meadows, 

 young field crops, or mast-bearing trees, and a suitable supply of 

 fodder during winter, they will be much less likely to attack young 

 woodland growth than under exactly the opposite circumstances. 



But the extent to which the different species of trees are 

 attacked by deer, and the amount of damage done by browsing 

 on them, varies very considerably, as does also their recuperative 

 power in healing the wounds inflicted. Amongst conifers, the 



