ANOTHER PROPOSED OURE FOR THE RABBIT PEST.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2388, 1 September 1886, Page 2

ANOTHER PROPOSED OURE FOR THE RABBIT PEST.

The following is an extract from. the v Duuiphries Courier : "One animal .which has long been banished- from thtf-' South of Scotland bids fair.to answer its recall bacause of its rabbit-loving propensities ; we refer to the badger or brock. Mr Charles St, John, in his "Wild' sports of the Highlands," speaks,of -H..& ' that ancient,. peaceable, and' respectableanimal.' He says the phrase' stinking as : a : .iadgor,' is-;quite inapplicable to,'.ii;, Tho badger's retreab. is .a pattern. .pi{cleanliness, Generally speaking it is a useful and harmless animal. Its,diet, ■consists chiefly of vegetables (including the bulbous roots of tho wild hyaointh); Biiails, coarse grasses, wasp's nests, whioh it digs up, and such small animals tadL* can oatoh in its nocturnal walks, ltjjr' also very fond of young rabbits, 'Jusjj latter characteristic induced Celonejl Blackett, a proprietor in Kirklanow, to introduce badgers on that property, A. couple of years ago a malo and two females were turned loose, and they have bred in the locality, to the dismay and dißtruotion of the rabbits, A full giwii rabbit can elude a badger, but it is ; delighted with the small suokling coriios. It is well known that the female rabbit forhiß her nursery at some distance from 4he common burrow. She digs a hole-in the ground, "often in tho open field, makesifc comfortable, there hides her "young, and covorsupthe entrance .during.the day. At night she attends to the little ones. The badger is-then on the ramblei'M having found out the nurairy, he speocfily diets his way down, which hia. pow.erful olaws enable him to do easily, and makes a meal of all within. Should themothei rabbit be at home she shares the fate of her offspring. In this way the rabbits aro litorally 'nipped, in the bul.' Though very fond of a nest of partridge eggs, and old bird too if she be caught, the badger is not nearly so destructive of game as the fox, and he is far, too shy an ammaUfo venture near a hon roost, The of Colonel Blackett, it seems to us, Ti worthy of imitation. Here is a- method of thinning the rabbits without the .Ut'o of traps and keepers, and without cost. The badger will not bo hi the way, and should his progeny become too numerou i they could easily beiecimated, and -the! i pelts would pay for the labour Trom colonial newspapers we observe that. the rabbit is becoming a. nuisance in Australia; It might be well- worth while for those who aro suffering from jts ravages to introduces few badgers. • If tho ellmate answored the latter, so would an abundance of rabbits." • ~■:■