Il6 ANIMAL LIFE OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



contrives to do without tunnelling underground, making runs 

 under the heather, furze, or matted herbage. Such exceptions 

 are known to sportsmen as Stub-Rabbits or Bush-Rabbits, in 

 the belief that they are a separate species. Occasionally, too, 

 the doe will follow the example of the Hare, and make a 

 nursery " form " in fallow land or among the growing turnips. 



The Rabbit is almost exclusively a vegetarian, its chief food 

 being grass and the tender shoots of furze ; but in the vicinity of 

 cultivated land they devastate the crops and inflict serious loss 

 upon the farmer. The exception to a vegetable diet is found in 

 its occasional indulgence in snails. Wherever there is sufficient 

 food and his enemies are not too oppressive the Rabbit has ex- 

 tended his range to the most out-of-the-way corners of these 

 islands. A century ago it was a scarce beast in Scotland, but 

 it is now to be found in abundance up to the extreme north. 

 It is found also. all over Ireland. Its chief enemies, in addition 

 to man, are all the members of the Weasel family, the Owls, and 

 the Hawks. 



Every one who has come across a party of Rabbits feeding 

 must have noticed how conspicuous the white underside of the 

 upturned tail makes them in flight. Wallace suggested that like 

 the white patch on the hind parts of deer and antelope it served 

 as " a signal flag of danger," a guide to the young and feeble to 

 escape from danger by following the most vigorous seniors. 

 This view has been strongly criticised, even ridiculed ; but the 

 critics have not offered a better explanation of the upturned 

 Rabbit's " scut." It must, however, be admitted that any ex- 

 planation ought to fit the case of the Hare which often carries 

 its tail with the white underside exposed, but is a solitary animal 

 with no companions to follow it. On the sand dunes the 

 Rabbit's coat renders it invisible through harmony with the 

 sand. 



In the ordinary way of life the Rabbit is a silent animal, except 

 that he gives vent to low growls and grunts to express anger or 



