THE RABBIT 



jaw of the animal is displaced, as occasionally happens 

 from the impact of a shot, the incisors in the fractured 

 jaw are distorted, and do not meet those above them, 

 and as they are not then worn away by use, they con- 

 tinue to grow, sometimes to an extraordinary length. 

 The manner in which animals thus deformed adapt 

 themselves to new conditions is marvellous. They 

 not only contrive to feed, but to live a long time after 

 the injury, as shown by the ossified condition of the 

 fracture when at length it comes to be examined. 

 The different mode in which hares and rabbits feed 

 is noteworthy. A Suffolk farmer, who is a good 

 sportsman as well as shrewd observer of facts con- 

 nected with natural history, asserts that you may 

 generally tell whether your turnips are nibbled by 

 hares or rabbits by the difference in the mode of 

 attacking the roots. A hare will bite off the peel and 

 leave it on the ground ; a rabbit will eat peel and all. 

 There is a marked difference also in the method 

 pursued by a rabbit and a rat when eating a turnip, 

 as observed by Mr. R. M. Barrington. If the turnip 

 is growing, and a portion of the bulb is still in the 

 ground, a rat generally eats all round it and leaves 

 the centre for the last ; whereas a rabbit begins at one 

 side and works right through to the other side. A 

 rat will bite off the rind, as a hare does, and will leave 



