AT PEEP OF DAY 



in comparison with the fine new fur, showing here 

 and there among the old. 



Seeing these demure little creatures in their 

 guarded attitudes only, one would never imagine 

 what fun-loving sprites they are. I sometimes 

 come upon them in the moonlight hours, at which 

 time they are said to be particularly partial to 

 gambols and frolics; but the wildest rabbit tour- 

 nament I ever witnessed was in the mid-afternoon 

 of a gray day a week or so ago. I was entirely in 

 evidence, but for this they seemed not to care in 

 the least. The joust took place directly over in 

 the grassy, shady space which the carriage-drive 

 encircles. There were about a dozen participants, 

 I should say, though their continual and rapid 

 changing of position made accurate counting a 

 difficult, not to say an impossible, matter. I fan- 

 cied that the company was divided into aggressive 

 and defensive parties; at any rate, from opposite 

 directions they came, jumping and bounding tow- 

 ard each other; sometimes leaping three feet or 

 more into the air, a particularly valiant knight oc- 

 casionally vaulting clean over the head of his an- 

 tagonist. Short, low bounds were also in vogue, 

 and there were chases and skirmishes and boxing 

 matches, and exuberant, kitten-like demonstra- 



