through his runways and stopped now and then 

 when the necessity appealed to him of removing 

 certain briers to keep the passageway clear. Some- 

 times it is a stem of the catbrier ; again a rose or 

 blackberry. In every case it is cut obliquely and 

 as sharply and neatly as with a knife. Frequently 

 stems are severed thickly set with thorns and 

 prickers, and the wonder is how he closed his 

 teeth upon them without getting an unpleasant 

 mouthful. Hundreds of cuts reveal never a slip or 

 break, but each is sharply defined as if done by 

 one stroke of a razor. His track shows places 

 where he sat upon his haunches, and where he 

 stood up to reach the buds of a stunted wild apple ; 

 again he followed the shore of the pond and 

 nibbled the small willows and clethra. Occasion- 

 ally he appears to have cut a large brier merely 

 for practice in using his teeth. 



Rabbit and fox are outlaws and without rights. 

 They are hunted to death ; hence they live by 

 their wits if they live at all. It has become second 

 nature to them to proceed indirectly, to break the 

 scent and double on their tracks whenever occa- 

 sion offers. The fox knows few foes besides men 

 and dogs, but the rabbit must circumvent owls, 



148 



