212 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



and at first the rabbits bolt freely, rumbling and 

 rushing along their subterranean passages, and with 

 blind force launching themselves into the nets. 

 A single ferret put into a burrow may send out a 

 dozen rabbits in quick succession ; or nothing may 

 happen when the ferrets disappear, hours of digging 

 follow, and then a bunch of ferrets and rabbits crowded 

 together are at last revealed. In autumn days there is 

 exciting sport with the gun at the expense of rabbits if 

 open burrows can be found, or burrows in dells where 

 the bare-stemmed elder is the only undergrowth. 



<r * <r 



In late autumn rabbits are very busy about their 

 burrows, making them fit for winter habitation. 



Through the summer, while many of the 

 The rabbits have been lying out, the burrows 



House**' have looked deserted and untidy. Warned 

 cleaning by the chilly nights that a subterranean 



refuge will soon be useful, the rabbits do 

 up their premises, enlarging them, clearing away 

 the remains of old nests, and of relatives that have 

 died underground, and making fresh chambers where 

 they may lie snug and warm in place of those dug out 

 during last season's ferreting operations. Judging 

 by the amount of soil excavated in a single night, 

 rabbits at this season seem to rival ants in energy 

 one might think there had been a wholesale 

 invasion of new-comers. At work, they kick the 

 soil sideways, forming a furrow perhaps six or ten 



