180 WOODLAND CREATURES 



she waits for the waning light of evening before 

 she revisits them. Probably it is safer to leave 

 them alone as much as possible, as too frequent 

 visits would be apt to betray them to the numerous 

 creatures that slay young rabbits. 



It is often asserted that the old rabbit will 

 not tolerate any interference with her litter, 

 that if the nest be opened, if the little ones are 

 touched, or if they are in any way disturbed, she 

 will either desert them or destroy them, but I 

 can vouch for there being exceptions to this rule 

 if rule it be, which I doubt. On one occasion I 

 thought I would see if a pet cat would rear some 

 little rabbits with her kittens, so sought for a nest 

 from which to get some suitable youngsters. A 

 sealed hole was found and opened. It contained 

 little rabbits that were the right size for my pur- 

 pose they were well covered with fur and their 

 eyes were just open ; so I took two of them, and 

 replaced the soil as neatly as possible. A visit 

 next day showed the nest had been opened and 

 closed in the night by the old rabbit, and when 

 I again opened the nest several days later the 

 family were perfectly well and very much grown. 

 The removal of yet another did not prevent the 

 doe returning to the remainder. 



Those that were handed over to the care of 

 the cat also flourished, at least until their careers 

 were brought to an untimely close. She was 

 induced to adopt them in the following way : some 

 of the kittens were taken away, and the rabbits 

 substituted for them. This was done while the 



