THE RABBIT 251 



and should be scooped out here and there to assist the 

 rabbit in the process of burrowing. After the ground 

 has been sufficiently burrowed the fencing may be 

 removed. 



The Warren 



A warren may be an extensive stretch of ground 

 a quarter of a mile or more in length, or may 

 simply be a three-acred field. In the former case, 

 no change of venue is necessary ; in the latter, it is 

 usual to change it from time to time, say once every 

 five or six years. The ideal warren must be well 

 drained, well supplied with food, and well enclosed. 

 The soil should be sandy and porous and free from the 

 possibilities of flooding. Good natural warrens stretch 

 along the banks of rivers, but have a considerable 

 elevation above high-water mark, and slope gently 

 upwards towards the pheasant covert, which stretches 

 in almost parallel lines with the windings of the river, 

 and are enclosed at each end, either by natural fences, 

 protected by wire-netting, or simply by this netting 

 erected on wooden palings. A good warren of this 

 type has varieties of cover, bracken, broom and gorse, 

 heather and hussocks of grass, and here and there small 

 juniper trees, and varieties of shrubbery. But although 

 such a warren is described as a natural one, it is liable 

 to the same laws as the ones we may term "artificial." 

 The extinction of vermin must be thoroughly looked 



