156 COMMON BlUTrSTT ANIMALS 



Among the many enemies of the rabbit are stoats, 

 weasels, foxes, the larger birds of prey, and occasion- 

 ally the domestic cat. Young rabbits fall victims to 

 the owl, the raven, the carrion crow, and the hoody 

 or saddle-back crow. 



Mr. Millais, quoting some notes on the rabbit 

 given him by Colonel E. A. Butler, says: '^ There 

 are several ways of distinguishing buck rabbits from 

 does when they are out feeding in the summer time. 

 The bucks carry their tails higher, so that the white 

 shows much more conspicuously when they are 

 moving. Then, again, the bucks are more restless 

 than the does, constantly fidgetting about and 

 scratching little holes. Does, as a rule, feed much 

 more in the day time in summer than the bucks, 

 creeping cautiously out of the covert and commencing 

 to feed at once, whereas the bucks come out later in 

 the day, often not before dusk, running out boldly 

 into the field with a hop, skip and jump, before 

 settling down to feed. On these occasions they have 

 a peculiar habit, when two meet, of jumping into the 

 air. Bucks, too, have a way of rubbing their heads 

 fawningly against anything they may come across, 

 such as a stone, a dead branch, or an old stump of a 

 tree, possibly near which a doe has been feeding.^^ 



There are many ways of catching rabbits, but, as 

 Mr. Millais says, a fortune awaits the man Avho can 

 invent a rabbit trap which is not cruel. '' The 

 fearful suffering inflicted on rabbits and all other 

 quadrupeds and bipeds that get into the teeth of the 

 common gin is dreadful to think of, and a subject of 

 regret to all humane men. Funds for the invention 



