NOTES AND QUERIES. 143 
MAMMALIA. 
White Hares in Nottinghamshire. —In October last the Earl of 
Burford shot at Bestwood Park, near here, a full-grown white Hare with 
eyes of a pale blue, so often seen in white varieties. A white Leveret also 
was caught, soon after it had left the nest, in the previous April. Possibly 
they were both of the same litter. The Duke of St. Albans has kindly 
presented them to me for the variety collection here. In December last a 
white Hare was shot at Rufford, and it is very curious that these should 
have occurred in one year, especially as there are now so few Hares left— 
not one to twenty of former days. No white Hare has occurred about here 
for forty years to my knowledge, though Hares used to swarm all over these 
parts.—J. Wuiraker (Rainworth, near Mansfield, Notts). 
The Rabbit Pest.—Mr. W. Rodier, of Tambua, Cobar, New South 
Wales, has forwarded to this Society a printed sheet, containing, as it 
appears to me, by far the best suggestion yet made for the extermination of 
Rabbits—a subject to which my attention has been repeatedly called by 
various correspondents in the Australian colonies, where, as is well known, 
the damage done by these animals is enormous. Mr. Rodier states that 
his plan has been in operation at his station in New South Wales for 
about eight months, “ with the utmost possible success,” and has cleared 
the country of Rabbits. It is a very simple plan. Ferrets and nets are 
used in the usual way to capture the Rabbits, but while all the females 
taken are destroyed, the males are turned out again uninjured. The 
results of this mode of operation are that the male Rabbits, as soon as they 
begin to predominate in numbers, persecute the females with their 
attentions, and prevent them from breeding. They also kill the young 
Rabbits that happen to be born; and even, as Mr. Kodier asserts, when 
they largely predominate in numbers, “worry the remaining does to 
death.” This is all strictly in accordance with what we know takes place 
under similar circumstances in the case of other animals, so that we can 
readily believe it to be likely to happen. The ordinary mode of trapping, 
as Mr. Rodier points out, is more likely to increase the number of Rabbits 
than to diminish them. For reasons which he clearly explains, more buck 
Rabbits are always killed by the trappers than does. Thus the does 
predominate in numbers, and, a few bucks being sufficient for a large 
number of does, are perpetually breeding and increasing the stock. The 
plan advocated by Mr. Rodier is so simple and easy that I cannot doubt it 
will be widely followed when known. No disease that might otherwise 
cause injury is introduced, no other noxious animal is proposed to be 
imported, but advantage is taken of the well-known natural laws which 
regulate the increase of life to effect in this instance a salutary decrease.— 
P. L. Scrater (Zoological Society of London, 3, Hanover Square, W.). 
