338 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



animals are set down as eating nothing but the 

 blades of corn, whereas I have shot them at all 

 seasons for the purpose of investigation, and found 

 that a short green grass was among the roots of the 

 young wheat, and that was the food thc}^ chiefly 

 sought, and Avhich accounted for the disappearance 

 of their ears, and their heads being so low down 

 while in the act of feeding'. 



By this it is by no means my intention to say 

 that hares and rabbits will not eat the blades of 

 corn ; I merely desire to show that their appetite 

 is not confined to what Avould become the food 

 of man, and that the purposed blame heaped on 

 them by false demagogues is, to an immense extent, 

 undeserved. Pheasants and partridges through the 

 spring and summer are 2Der23etually among the green 

 corn as well as among and beneatli the .full-grown 

 crop ; but they can only eat the corn for a few da}'s 

 just when it is sown, and not afterwards till the 

 grain is quite ripe : unless laid by storms, it is 

 out of their reach. 



The hare and rabbit only casually eat the corn 

 when in its fresh, green, and unripened state. Of 

 this I am })erfectly sure, that all the means for in* 

 creasing the food for the people, suggested by that 



