OF RABBITS. 381 



bucks out of twelve in this way ; the only 

 rabbit that can deceive me being a maiden 

 rabbit, that has not bred, or is only a few days 

 in young — a last-year's, late-littered young doe. 



Again, you can snare your rabbits if you 

 have any snares, killing your snared wild 

 bucks, and letting the does go. In the months 

 of March and April, when the bucks are 

 hunting the does, I can take twelve traps and 

 set them ; and if six rabbits are caught, five 

 of them will be bucks. This is no idle boast 

 of mine, as anyone who has seen my traps can 

 testify. 



Having thus killed your wild bucks, the 

 tame ones, or rather the half-bred ones, will 

 have a great advantage in every way ; they 

 will not be hunted to death by the wild bucks, 

 as they certainly would have been had not the 

 latter been killed. These tame bucks, there- 

 fore, get almost all the does in young. It is 

 much better to turn down half-bred bucks 

 than real home-bred ones, the former being a 

 much better stamp of rabbit, hardier, and 

 more able to take care of themselves. If any 



