21: Chapter 23. Kehaar 

21.1 Burrowkeeping  

A couple of mistakes from last week. 

I got the Chapter number wrong. It was Chapter 22 not 21. I have corrected the episode title and notes. I also referred to Hazel as Holly a couple of times. 

21.2 Chroicocephalus ridibundus or the Black-headed Gull 

The back-headed gull is a small gull. They have red beaks, as opposed to the yellow/orange beaks of larger white-headed seagull species. The black head is actually dark brown and moults in winter, leaving a patch behind each eye. 

Although Kehaar has been portrayed on film as keeping his black head throughout the story, there is actually a clear reference to his head moulting during the course of this chapter, leaving just a brown patch behind each eye.  

Can these gulls moult prematurely if they don't get to mate? Or did Adam's make a mistake by having Kehaar moult prematurely? 

21.3 The Doe-problem 

the overriding challenge facing this Warren is about to rear its head: the absence of does. 

The efforts of the rabbits of WD to get some does to join them has also been criticised as reducing female characters in the book to nothing more than breeders. 

Solving the doe problem will drive the remaining plot of the book. The means by which the problem will largely be solved is about to enter the story. 

21.4 Chapter 23. Kehaar 

Bigwig and Silver are outside feeding when they come across a creature nearly as big as themselves. The creature, a bird, is obviously injured and is striking out at them with its bill in fear and anger. 

Hazel tries to talk to it in the simple lingua franca used by all animals. 

Its speech is very exotic and it obviously comes from a long way away. It is clearly starving. 

Eventually they manage to find some rotten wood that will contain insects and take it to the bird. 

Once the bird has finished eating they start to talk again. The bird denies it is hurt and swears at Hazel, who decides to leave it alone for a while. He returns to the bird early in the evening. It agrees to follow Hazel to the warren.  

Bigwig learns that the gull was injured by a cat in a nearby farmyard but was able to stand up to it, before struggling up onto the Down. it lives with countless other birds of its kind in a place where...the earth stops.  

On a more practical note, the gull is male (obviously) and is called 'Kehaar' 

Hazel is keen to know if Kehaar will just leave once he is better. He explains why. 

At this point the doe-problem is introduced for the first time. Hazel says he plans to "get hold of some does" and bring them to WD. He plans to have Kehaar look further afield for them.  

Some days later, Kehaar has something to say to Hazel. He owes them his life. It’s is too late for him to breed now that year. He offers to look for "mudders" for the warren, as he puts it. 

The next day Kehaar makes some practice flights, then, three days later, he sets out on a "perfect June morning".  

'One afternoon' Kehaar returns. It is now July at the earliest. Kehaar has seen rabbits being kept in a "box" in a farm at the foot of the Down. He also flew south. There he saw a large "town of rabbits" with "Plenty mudders". 

He estimates it would take about two days for a rabbit to get there. 

The obvious answer is to go to the Warren and "get some does". Hazel suggests an expedition to the Warren.  Holly is an obvious choice. They also choose Silver, Buckthorn and Strawberry. 

They set out early the following morning, with Kehaar flying ahead, to navigate for them and bring back news. 

21.5 Next Episode  

A big thank you to John Ruths, whose notes have really helped in the preparation of this complex episode.  

In the next episode, while waiting for news, Hazel has an idea. I would argue that it is the low-point of his leadership.