i2 4 RABBITS, CATS, AND CAVIES 



and other countries, providing recreation, and in many 

 cases, where judgment and attention is bestowed upon 

 them, substantial remuneration to thousands of fanciers, 

 of both sexes, and in all ranks of life. 



The following description, by the late Rev. J. G. 

 Wood, F.Z.S., whose works on Natural History have 

 afforded pleasure to thousands of readers, including the 

 writer, who also enjoyed his lectures on the same subject, 

 will give my readers a capital notion of a rabbit 

 warren : 



" To see rabbits at their best, it is necessary to be 

 concealed in their immediate vicinity, and watch them in 

 the early morning or in the fall of the evening. No one 

 can form any true conception of the Rabbit nature until 

 he has observed the little creatures in their native 

 home, and when he has done so he will seize the earliest 

 opportunity of renewing his acquaintance with the droll 

 little creatures. 



"To describe the manifold antics of a rabbit warren 

 would occupy a considerable space. The little animals 

 are such quaint, ridiculous beings, and are so full of such 

 comical little coquetries, and such absurd airs of assumed 

 dignity, that they sorely try the gravity of the concealed 

 observer, and sometimes cause him to burst into irre- 

 pressible laughter, to their profound dismay. At one 

 time they are gravely pattering about the entrances 

 to their subterranean homes, occasionally sitting upright 

 and gazing in every direction, as if fearful of a surprise, 

 and all behaving with the profoundest gravity, next moment 

 someone gets angry and stamps his feet upon the ground 



