 In " Male Chauvinist Rabbits , " an essay originally published in the New York Times Book Review , Selma G. Lanes criticized Adams 's treatment of gender . She observed that the first third of the story is a " celebration of male camaraderie , competence , bravery and loyalty as a scraggly bunch of yearling bucks ... arrive triumphant at a prospectively ideal spot " , only to realize that they have no females for mating . " Fully the last two @-@ thirds of Adams 's saga , " Lanes argued , " is devoted to what one male reviewer has blithely labelled " The Rape of the Sabine Rabbits " , a ruthless , single @-@ minded and rather mean @-@ spirited search for females – not because Watership Down 's males miss their companionship or yearn for love , but rather to perpetuate the existing band . " For Adams , Lanes continued , the does are only " instruments of reproduction " to prevent the achievement of reaching Watership Down from " becoming a hollow victory . " As evidence , Lanes pointed to Hazel and Holly 's assessment of the rescued Nuthanger does ' value : " it came naturally ... to consider the two Nuthanger does simply as breeding stock for the warren . " 
