Beeton's book of poultry and domestic animals - Thurman Lodge ...

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is in a nalwral condition. It is to " the manner bom,'' and
prefers its snug, gloomy, comfortable burrow to the most
splendid prison you may contrive for him. If you insist on his
compulsory companionship, and put him in a prison (hutch,
you call it) with barred doors, that you may work your will
with him, however absurd and fantastic that will may be—tfll
his comfortable and decent russet suit assumes tints and
colours unheard of in rabbitdom, till his ears grow inches
longer than nature designed, and his lithe spine becomes crooked,
or " fashionably arched;"—^if you practise thus on his helpless
carcase, and on the carcases of his descendants through many
generations, tiU the result is no more like a wild free-living
rabbit, than if it were of a totally different species, it is rather
unjust to think hardly of the poor creature because it cannot
content itself in a box, possessing all the disadvantages
of cold and damp, and none of the advantages of ventilation,
drainage, and pure air to be found in its native warren.
Let your first care, therefore, be to provide comfortable lodging
for your rabbits. After all, the toonble and expense will
really exceed by very httie what it would cost you to build a
make-shift residence, and once accomplished, you may depend
that you have saved yourself an amount of future vexation and
disgust, worth ten times the extra expenditure. How many
rabbits do you intend keeping ? If the number is not to exceed
half a dozen, then, before all others, the " portable hutch " is
to be recommended. It possesses many advantages, not least
among which are the following : it is not the least unsightly
it may, indeed, be made rather a pretty object than an eyesore
— ;
it may be kept clean with as little difficulty as a bird-cage or a
dog-kennel ; its inmates may most easily be rendered secure
from the attacks of cats and rats ; and its site may be accommodated
to shade or sun as occasion may require ; and last,
doubtless to the minds of >most boy rabbit-keepers, it may be
built easily by the perspective rabbit-owner, provided he has or
can borrow a few carpenter's tools, and a moderate stock of
that which, unfortunately, must be a natural possession and
cannot be borrowed— patience, and a few planks. As I dissent
from Mr. Cobbett's opinion that "any one can knock up a
rabbit hutch," I wiU describe how the portable hutch should be
constructed.
In shape it should be straight, sided and backed and floored,
with a roof slanting equally on either side. The shape is presented
by the common' dog-kennel, or more familiar, the gene-