HARES 137 



reason the lower part of the mesh has had to be 

 of small size, costing a higher price. Even at its 

 best it is difficult, especially on rough ground, to 

 so fix the netting, by burying it six inches in 

 the ground and so forth, that the rabbit by dint 

 of patient search will not find a weak spot at which 

 he will eventually make a way through. 



In the interests of the small proprietors who plant, 

 and the country will not be able to do without the 

 plantations which will be formed by this fairly large 

 body of owners, it has become necessary that some 

 authority should be set up with powers to see that 

 the rabbit is either exterminated on areas, and in the 

 neighbourhood of such areas, devoted to planting ; 

 or that owners wishing to maintain rabbits for 

 sporting purposes should confine them to warrens, 

 the warren being fenced in in such a manner as to 

 reduce to a minimum the risk of their escaping. 



Hares, both the brown and the blue, are more 

 easily dealt with than the rabbit, as they do not bur- 

 row. They have the same dental formation, and feed 

 in much the same way. They are therefore capable, 

 especially when plentiful, of proving serious pests 

 to young trees. The damage they commit is chiefly 

 done, perhaps, at periods when snow is lying on the 

 ground and they are driven to the trees for food. 

 It should be quite possible by shooting to keep 

 the hare within bounds. The operation may be 

 slightly more difficult in the case of the blue hire 

 on the hilly and mountainous waste lands, where 

 there will always be considerable areas of rough 

 high ground for them to breed in, owing to the 



