NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RABBIT 45 



rabbits come out to feed. As soon as one of them gets 

 far enough out from the fence, the buzzard will glide 

 noiselessly down and pounce upon his back in an 

 instant. Escape is then hopeless, for the powerful 

 talons grip him like a steel trap, and his fate is sealed. 

 The goshawk is so good a rabbit-catcher that its 

 skill in this respect is turned to excellent account by 

 falconers, who train this bird to do, for their amuse- 

 ment, what it habitually does for its own living. Of 

 this we shall have more to say later, when dealing 

 with this particular branch of sport in which the 

 rabbit is concerned. 



One more bird deserves a passing notice in this 

 connection. The brown owl, known also as the 

 tawny or wood owl, although preying usually on rats, 

 mice, field voles, and small birds, is by no means 

 averse to taking a young rabbit when it gets the 

 chance. But probably only the very small ones fall 

 victims in this way, for it has neither the strength nor 

 the weight sufficient to hold a heavy old buck or doe 

 in the frantic efforts which it would make to escape. 



When dealing on a preceding page with the 

 subject of the maternal instinct which prompts an old 

 rabbit to attack an intruder in defence of its young 

 (p. 20), mention was incidentally made of the way in 

 which a carrion crow was driven away when on the 



