THE RABBIT. 



81 



approach of danger. The barking of young trees by rabbits, 

 is prevented as for hares. The chief damage done by them, 

 is by burrowing in the banks of hedge roots, where they un- 

 dermine the growth of the plants, and prevent the consohda- 

 tion. The furry down that is rubbed from their bodies, and 

 which adheres to the quicksets in the very frequent passage 

 to and from the field for food, is pernicious to vegetable life. 

 But these results only happen from an over-abundant number 

 of rabbits ; when kept in moderate numbers, very little or no 

 damage is observable. The destruction of them may be 

 effected by shooting, or better by spreading nets over the 

 mouths of the burrows, and sending muzzled ferrets into the 

 holes, in order to drive them out. A moderate number is 

 pleasant to behold ; and, to a contemplative mind, no part of 

 nature's works can be more pleasing, in a summer's evening, 

 than these splendid minatures of creation, feeding and watch- 

 ing ; washing their long ears and their face, with the fore- 

 paws regularly in alternation, and wetting the paw with their 

 tongue, to make it abstergent, raising their ears to listen, and 

 setting the body bolt upright to behold from a greater height, 

 and to command a longer distance. When the use of migra- 

 tory animals becomes the " interim " property of the pro 

 tempo7'e domicile, as it most justly is, the farmer will delight 

 in a moderate number of the i-abbit, as a useful ornament to 

 his interim property. 



" Warrens " have been formed of wild rabbits, where they 

 are confined within a certain space of occupation, and bred 

 for the purpose of a hired profit. The purpose is answered, 

 where there is a not very distant available demand for the 

 flesh and the fur. Waste lands of a dry sandy nature, to ad- 

 mit the formation of burrows, might be profitably used in this 

 way. But it supposes some cultivation to raise green food 

 for summer and winter, and these spaces must be closely 

 fenced during the growth of the plants. A portion of the 

 ground would be very useful by being sown permanently with 

 clovers and grasses, parsley and legumes. This would form 

 a constant grazing ground ; and other crops could be raised 

 in inclosed spaces, to suit the different seasons of the year. 



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