68 PRACTICAL RABBIT KEEPING 



Amateurs with only a few rabbits can often 

 give them more room than the commercial 

 grower. It is an excellent plan to have an out- 

 side run in connection with a hutch. This 

 may be made of wire netting mounted on legs, 

 or it may rest on the ground. Even in the 

 latter case it should have a floor either of 

 boards or wire. Too much emphasis cannot 

 be placed upon the necessity of having such 

 a run or in fact any kind of outside hutch 

 made very strong. Otherwise the rabbit 

 keeper is likely to have his stock wiped out by 

 the depredations of dogs. Dogs sometimes 

 get wildly excited at the sight of a rabbit, even 

 in a pen, and will go through an ordinary wire 

 front. Even when it is impossible for a dog 

 to reach the inmates of the hutch, the latter 

 may be badly injured by fright. A doe with 

 young in the nest may pull them out, and de- 

 stroy them in her terror. Or in the case of a 

 bred doe, a premature birth may be brought 

 about. Dogs often become a serious menace 

 to the rabbit keeper, and must be taken into 

 account when a rabbitry is being planned. It 

 is advisable to cover hutches with wire of a 

 close enough mesh to exclude rats and mice, 



