DESTRUCTION FOR SKINS AND OIL 



167 



nineteenth century a Parliamentary Report estimated the 

 annual consumption of rabbit skins in England at 30,000,000. 

 In Scotland a great trade in the fur of Hares 1 and Rabbits 

 was carried on at the local fur markets, Rabbits in southern 

 Scotland being classed, in order of decreasing value of skin, 

 as "warreners, parkers, hedgehogs and sweethearts," accord- 

 ing as they lived in warrens, pleasure parks, had no fixed 

 abode, or were tame. At the Dumfries Fur Market as 

 many as 70,000 hare skins and 200,000 rabbit skins have 

 been on sale in single years, but even such figures give no 

 idea of the constant drain upon the numbers of these animals 

 caused by the steady demand for fur. 



200,000 sold 



during winter 



of 1871 



100 

 . 90 



1 so 



o 70 



H 60 



| 50 



$ 40 



30 



.5 20 



& 10 







1822 1825 1830 1835 1840 1845 l %5 l8 55 !86o 1865 1870 1874 



Fig. 41. THE DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS AND HARES; as indicated by 

 the numbers of skins on sale at Dumfries Fur Fair. 



Numbers of skins shown on right and left ; years below ; dotted line, Rabbit skins ; 

 unbroken line, Hare skins. 



The position of the commencement of Prothero's " Golden Age " of British Agriculture 

 is indicated. 



In the above diagram I have represented graphically the 

 numbers of hare and rabbit skins offered at the Dumfries 

 Fair from the early years of the nineteenth century till the 

 market came to an end about 1874. 



The graph clearly shows that during these years 

 Rabbits in the Lowlands did not suffer ultimately in 

 number through the persecution of man, as one would have 

 expected, but that on the contrary, while Hares showed a 

 gradual decline till 1849 and then a steady rise till 1860, the 



1 Almost altogether skins of the Common Hare (Lepus europaeus), but 

 perhaps also a few skins of Z. timidus, the Mountain Hare. 



