250 DELIBERATE INTRODUCTION OF NEW ANIMALS 



reigned from 1329 to 1371, granted the keeper of the 

 warrens in Fife, William Herwart, a charter in life-rent of 

 the office of Keeper of the King's Muir in Crail and of its 

 " cuningare " or warren, his salary being 40^. a year. 



It should be explained that in early times 'the word 

 "cony" (or some modification of it), alone was in use, and 

 that even when the diminutive term " rabbit " or " rabette " 

 was introduced in the fourteenth century, it was applied 

 only to the young. "The Conie...beareth hyr Rabettes xxx 

 dayes, and then kindeleth" (The Noble Arte of Venerie or 

 Hunting, 1575). 



Already in the fifteenth century, the Rabbit had made 

 good its introduction and become a recognized article of 

 commerce in Scotland. In 1424 a law was passed exacting 

 a custom of \id. on every 100 "cuning" skins exported, and 

 in 1457 a further degree of protection was afforded the 

 animal, the destroying of " cunings " in time of snow being 

 made a point of dittay or criminal prosecution. It is quite 

 clear that at this early date, the Rabbit was established 

 throughout a wide extent of the country. The Rental Book 

 of Cupar Abbey shows that in 1474 the Abbey possessed a 

 "warander of kunynyare" or keeper of the warren, and in 

 the following year, Gilbert Ra or Rae undertook to keep for 

 the Abbey the " conyngar [warren] fra all scaith and peryl, 

 and promoofe and put that to all profit at [h]is powar." 

 Even in the smaller islands of Orkney it flourished, and as 

 we learn from a Rental Book of the Earldom dated 1497- 

 1 503, formed part of the rental in kind paid to the Earl 

 the links of " Dernes, Burra, North Sandwick, Pappa prope 

 Westray, and Sanday," combining to supply annually "114 

 cunnings," and "1274 cunningis skinnis." 



The sixteenth century marked a notable increase in the 

 interest taken in the Rabbit both by the public and the law. 

 The value of a warren contributed not a little to the "common 

 good" of a township, so that the introduction of Rabbits to a 

 suitable piece of waste ground was to be desired wherever 

 they could be " gudly had." Already the common warren of 

 Aberdeen, "cunicularium de Abirdene," was in full activity on 

 the links to the south of Don-mouth, near the "Gallowhills," 

 as we learn from a casual reference to its site in a charter 

 of James IV to the Provost and Baillies of the Burgh in 1583. 



