| “ | The smells are awfully strong on a farm, you know, and they don't mean much when you live behind wire. As far as I can make out, you all live by smell.
―Boxwood
|
” |
Boxwood was one of the four hutch rabbits. He, Haystack, and Clover were the only three to escape to Watership Down Warren. He was a "black and white Himalayan" buck, and Haystack's mate.
Book[]
Boxwood is first encountered in the novel as Hazel and Pipkin make their trip to Nuthanger Farm, hoping to find some does in the rabbit hutch. He is the first to speak and introduce himself to the wild rabbits, and he is said to speak “slightly strange but perfectly intelligible Lapine.”
During the farm raid a few days after their first meeting, Boxwood helped from within his hutch to push against and buckle the hinge closing it off, just enough for Bigwig to chew the leather strap from the outside, and was ultimately able to escape along with Clover and Haystack. From then on, the hutch rabbits live in the Honeycomb, working to adjust to their new level of freedom and manage the exhaustion of wild living after being contained for so long. Boxwood seems to get along well with Strawberry, getting guidance with warren life such as identifying scents caught on the wind.
Boxwood, along with the other hutch rabbits, stay behind in the warren as Hazel leads his project to sneak does out of Efrafra.
Miniseries[]
Boxwood appears in the miniseries, and is portrayed as a doe, rather than a buck. She is orange, with white and black markings. Her voice actress is unknown.
She is first shown in her hutch in the barn, along with Clover, Haystack, and Laurel (who was also changed to a doe). She, along with Haystack and Laurel, is confused by the idea of freedom, but is shown to like it once Clover explains it. After Hazel, Fiver, and Bigwig's first attempt at freeing the hutch rabbits fails, they are moved inside.
Boxwood gets recaptured.
Hazel goes in alone, and gets the rabbits' cage open. As soon as they come out, they start wandering around the room, but then, Tab comes in the room, and corners all five of the rabbits. However, Bigwig and Fiver come along and save them. The cat then jumps up onto a shelf, and knocks over a vase, alerting the wife, who very quickly recaptures Boxwood.
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