Possible orphaned baby wild rabbits

Question
Toni, a neighbor mows my lawn.  He found a nest with 4 or 5 babies.  They appear to be about 4 inches (Maybe longer) but they don't come out of the nest.  I haven't seen the mother but it's been 3 days since we discovered them (wouldn't they have died by now?).  I know she will only come a few times a day but it's raining here and pretty chilly.  Can I shred something, like newspaper, and put it over them to keep them warm?  Before I was made aware of the babies some of the other neighbor kids found them and sort of destroyed the "blanket" the mother put over them.  I did cover them with ground foilage yesterday.  Did the mother uncover them?  I happen to be an animal lover and can't just close my eyes to this one.  Thanks for your advice.  I look forward to hearing from you.

Answer
Hi Marie,

I'd say the mother is probably still looking after them . One easy way to tell is if they have round little bellies. Try not to handle them as getting your scent on them could cause the mother to reject them. As for covering them, that's really quite a difficult situation as the mother would pull her fur out and put that down as their 'blanket' and now that has been removed, if you put something else there, it would change the scent, probably causing her to reject the babies. Otherwise, they could die of hypothermia, especially if the fur isn't thick yet. I'd say if you have already touched them or done anything that means your scent was left there, and she has not rejected them, then you could put something like cotton wool over them.

Hope this Helps
Toni