THE BABBIT. 



rate. The floors should be planed smooth, that wet may ran 

 off, and a common hoe, with a short handle, and a short broom, 

 are most convenient implements for cleaning these houses. 

 Ever bear in mind, that exposure to rain, whether externally or 

 internally, is fatal to rabbits, which, like sheep, are liable to the 

 rot, springing from the same causes. Thorough ventilatvm 

 and good air are indispensable where many rabbits are kept, or 

 they will neither prosper nor remain healthy for any length of 

 time. A thorough draught or passage for the air is, therefore, 

 absolutely necessary, and shotild be so contrived as to be checked 

 in cold or wet weather by the closing or shutting of opposite 

 doors or windows. 



A cheaper hutch for a less number of rabbits may be con- 

 structed according to the directions of the author of " British 

 Husbandry." The breeding-hutch, as being the lodging of the 

 doe, is always the larger, and contains a double apartment — 

 one for the nest, and the other for the feeding-room of the 

 brood when old enough to come into it. The best size is about 

 four feet long by two and a half wide, and eighteen inches to 

 two feet high ; but they are often made smaller, and those not 

 meant for breeding are seldom more than two-thirds that size. 

 They are latticed with wire in the front of each, as, if made of 

 laths, the rabbits would gnaw them ; but the division parted off 

 for the reception of the breeding-nest is closed both at the front 

 and sides, leaving only a small door in the interior for the 

 entrance of the doe : indeed, an inner division, with a sUding- 

 door, is useful for confining the rabbits while the outer part is 

 cleaned. There should also be a moveable feeding-trough, 

 which should be regularly taken away after every meal; for 

 rabbits, like horses, if allowed to blow upon their food, will not 

 afterwards eat it, unless pressed by serious hunger. The 

 troughs should be made of tin or iron, to allow of their being 

 easily cleaned ; and shoxdd have separate compartments of not 

 more than four inches long, both for different sorts of food as 

 well as to prevent the rabbits from getting their feet into the 

 trough and throwing out the corn. Some persons even add a 

 small sack at one end of the hutch for the purpose of contain- 

 ing the hay on which they feed ; but the small quantity usually 

 given is more commonly left upon the floor. The trough should 

 either be inserted as a drawer, or, if placed outside the hutch, 

 should be covered by a hinged flap, to shut and open in either 

 the front or one end. The floor is commonly pierced with 

 holes to allow the escape of urine ; but, as the greatest atten- 



S03 



