CHAPTER IX 

 THE COMMON RABBIT 



AS every covert has its population of rabbits, 

 a chapter must be spared for this com- 

 monplace little animal. We all know its 

 prick ears, grey-brown form, and bobbing white 

 tail ; yet there are many interesting points about 

 it. To begin with, it is not a native of these islands, 

 but has been introduced, like the pheasant, within 

 historic times. At first the fact seems almost 

 incredible: we can hardly realize that the rabbit 

 which is to be met with everywhere, the creature 

 which dwells in all parts of the country, in the 

 woods, hedgerows, and meadows, is really a new- 

 comer, a stranger in our midst, and an alien like 

 the red-legged partridge or the little owl ! Yet 

 this is so : once upon a time there were no rabbits 

 to worry the primitive farmers, no white tails 

 went bobbing across the country, and the fox 

 and the stoat of those days must have had a 

 very different " bill of fare " from that on which 

 they now live. Perhaps it was the hare to which 

 they devoted their attention. But the rabbit 

 is now firmly established, it is part and parcel 



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