THE BABBIT. 



rabbit. 2 ia the feeding department ; 3 is only an arched 

 passage innneiied at the ground level of the bottom of the two 

 pits, about a foot wide and broad, to serve as a communication 

 between the pits. This is also bricked and arched, but is not 

 seen at the top. A covering of oil-cloth is added to the curb 

 of each pit, and the cloth extends over the frame several inches 

 beyond the curb, in order to prevent the entry of the heaviest 

 rain. At the place, op, the arched passage is always open; 

 and so it is also at the other extremity marked t r, excepting 

 only when any of the rabbits are to be taken. Dryness is 

 essential to the prosperity of this animal ; therefore the soil 

 should not only be naturally dry, but must be protected above, 

 and kept secure at the sides and bottoms of the pit by the 

 best brickwork. From what has been stated, it will be under- 

 stood that a sound chalky or sandstone rock forms by far 

 the most appropriate medium for the warren, which the rabbits 

 burrow into, and excavate according to their own requirements. 

 Four does and a buck may be reckoned a good breeding stock ; 

 and something of the kind was found when the writer pur- 

 chased the property in the Isle of Thanet. The experience of 

 about two and a half years proved the correctness of the facts 

 thus stated ; and little more remains to be said on the avail- 

 ability of a practice which, while it secures the rabbits, pre- 

 serves something of their wild nature. The variety generally 

 introduced by the Thanet people was the one called brown: 

 the hardy silver-haired would be desirable, if it could be pro- 

 cured. Sometimes a black rabbit was produced among the young 

 ones of a litter. In feeding twice a day, the cabbage-leaves and 

 carrot-tops of the garden were thrown into the feeding-pit, always 

 free from wet, but not particularly air-dried or contracted by 

 exposure. Some coarse poUard and a few oats, mixed, were let 

 down in a trough attached to a long handle. The opening, t r, was 

 fitted with a trap-door, working freely in grooves, and fur- 

 nished with a string and loop to keep it up. To this a much 

 longer string was tied, and made to act periiendicularly, when 

 any were to be taken, previously to which a meal or two was 

 omitted. The simple machinery being then adapted, hunger in- 

 duced a rush to seize the green food thrown down ; and after 

 waiting a few minutes it rarely happened that a sufficient 

 nujuber was not secured by the fall of the trap to admit of a 

 pioper selection for table use. Some cautions suggest them- 

 selves. No useless trappings must be indulged in; the man 

 who holds the long string must not be seen. The passage 



