GNAWING ANIMALS RODENTS 157 



of some merciful engine of capture have been raised 

 and offered to the inventor, but so far we seem to be 

 as far off the day of the ' happy despatch ' as ever. 

 Such a trap must, of course, be quite as certain in 

 its efficiency as the gin, but it should either catch 

 alive or strike dead, and I think that the Government 

 which professes to be humanitarian should offer a large 

 reward for such an invention, and entirely prohibit 

 the use of the gin and the common wire snare, which 

 is almost equally cruel/^ 



Dry, sandy ground, with cover of heather or long 

 grass, is peculiarly favoured by rabbits. On such 

 ground the warrens, as the colonies are called, are 

 literally alive with rabbits in the morning and 

 evening, when they come out of their burrows to 

 feed. With the slightest noise they scamper home, 

 cocking their short tails, which are white beneath, 

 to point the way to those behind them. They 

 scurry away down their holes, just as if they had 

 suddenly thought of an appointment and feared to 

 be too late for it, as the white rabbit was in ' Alice 

 in Wonderland.' 



Rabbits are subject to many diseases, most of 

 them being due to inbreeding and exhausted ground, 

 but they often suffer from some malformation of the 

 incisors, caused by the upper ones not grinding 

 properly on the lower ones. One of the teeth often 

 grows out to a considerable length, frequently pene- 

 trating the skull. The sufferer is prevented from 

 feeding properly, and finally dies of starvation. 



The name " rabbit " was formerly spelt " rabbet,'' 

 and in old English, '' rabbette." Professor Herbert 



