Practical Game-Preserving. 286 



conduce to security and consequent increase of rabbits 

 wherever they are in any way plentiful, and where they 

 are not there is no great difficulty in making them so, 

 provided the ground be suitable. 



Opinions amongst preservers differ largely upon the sub- 

 ject of rabbits. Some will have none of them, others are 

 always glad to see a good supply ; whilst others, again, are 

 prone to devote much attention to them and cannot have 

 too many. I am of opinion that upon the average ordinary 

 preserve a good quantity of rabbits, judiciously controlled, 

 is very much to be desired. It is, however, practically 

 impossible to run a big stock of hares and rabbits upon 

 the same ground. If hares be required, the rabbits must 

 go; that is certain, because they will either drive them 

 away or may contaminate them with the contagion of 

 epidemic disease. It is, however, quite possible to main- 

 tain a fair stock of rabbits and a modicum of hares, if 

 proper regard be paid to their individual requirements. At 

 the same time, everything depends upon the views or in- 

 clinations of the preserver himself. There is no doubt, 

 however, that upon preserves situated in fox-hunting 

 countries, rabbits are a valuable asset as a protection 

 against foxes. They also possess the merit of attracting 

 vermin from the birds, and they are useful in other ways 

 to the preserver even if we leave entirely to one side the 

 matter of the revenue small or large to be derived from 

 the sale of them. Still, these are matters which do not 

 weigh heavily with the owners of large preserves, although 

 they bulk largely in the economy of rough and mixed 

 shoots. There are even conditions of not infrequent occur- 

 rence when a sporting warren could very well form a 

 feature of the preserve. 



These, however, are after all matters of somewhat 

 secondary importance. The control of the rabbits is, 



