i68 WILD ANIMALS WORTH STALKING 



is about thirty-four days, and the most usual 

 number is five at a birth. I have known as few as 

 two and as many as ten. 



They are born blind and remain so for about a 

 week; at fourteen days old they are able to run, 

 but not capable of maintaining themselves before 

 about a month old. 



Rabbits live and breed in colonies, but the doe, 

 when about to become a mother, prefers to make 

 a small chamber some distance away from the 

 colony to which she belongs, and where she can 

 lay up her family in quietude. She spends very 

 little time with them beyond that necessary for 

 nursing. Her nest is made of rough grass and 

 other similar material, which she lines with fur 

 plucked from her own body. While her family 

 is small and when in these isolated chambers, she 

 takes the precaution to block up the entrance with 

 soil before leaving, no doubt with a view of pre- 

 venting raids from the Stoat and Weasel, perhaps 

 two of her most deadly enemies; but it is from 

 these shallow breeding places that the Fox and 

 Badger get so many meals by scratching through 

 into the nest. 



Young Rabbits are to be found most years at 

 Christmas-time, and the breeding continues up to 

 the following August, so that the breeding season 

 may be said to extend over nine months of the 

 year. 



