54 NATURE STUDY. 



TJieir home life. " In its wild state the rabbit is an 

 intelligent and amusing creature, full of odd little tricks, 

 and given to playing the most ludicrous antics as it 

 gambols about the warren in all the unrestrained joy- 

 ousness of habitual freedom. 



"At one time they are gravely pattering about the 

 doors of their underground homes, occasionally sitting 

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

 surprise, and all behaving with the supremest gravity. 

 Next moment some one gets angry and stamps his feet 

 fiercely on the ground as a preliminary observation be- 

 fore engaging in a regular fight. Suddenly a whole 

 party rush off at full speed, scampering over the ground 

 as if they meant to run a mile, at least, but unexpectedly 

 stop short at an inviting tuft of herbage, and nibble it 

 composedly as if they had not run a yard. Then a sud- 

 den panic will flash through the whole party, and with 

 a rush and scurry every rabbit leaps into its burrow and 

 vanishes from sight like magic. The spot that was so 

 full of life but a moment since is now deserted and 

 silent as if it had been uninhabited for ages ; but in a 

 few moments one little nose is seen cautiously poked 

 out of a burrow, the head and ears follow, and in a very 

 few minutes the frightened rabbits have come again into 

 the light of day, and have recommenced their interrupted 

 pastimes." (From Animate Creation.^) 



Their enemies. They are found in every direction: 



owls and hawks swoop down from above ; weasels, 



, foxes, hedgehogs, and the domestic cats catch them 



in or dig them from their burrows ; man (the most 



