CHAPTER XXXL 



THE WILD RABBIT,: Its Habits and^Preservaticm. 



No inconsiderable portion of the game-preserver's time, 

 in nearly all parts of the country, will be taken up in his 

 endeavours to keep down the number of rabbits within 

 reasonable limits ; consequently, an intimate knowledge of 

 their haunts and habits is indispensable. 



Rabbits usually live in small colonies, each composed of 

 one, two, or more families, all on good terms with one 

 another. These colonies are formed in the latter part of 

 spring, and continue up to the end of autumn or the com- 

 mencement of winter. They are started by one or two 

 does and a buck that may have wintered together in the 

 same burrow. As soon as the season permits, this little 

 community takes up its abode in a burrow suitable to its 

 requirements, while the does construct their nests in small 

 holes adjacent. Directly the first litter are sufficiently 

 matured, the doe leads them to the burrow, and meanwhile 

 prepares for a second, and so the colony is added to month 

 by month until it becomes too populous, and subsidiary ones 

 are formed by the young rabbits, until within a compara- 

 tively short time the original pair have multiplied a 

 hundredfold. 



We will now take a view of the haunts of rabbits during 

 the several seasons of the year, commencing, as is most 

 fitting, with spring. During the period from about 



