Acoustics of a Rabbit-Hole. 107 



the air. The sun is sinking, and there is a hush and 

 silence. 



But the rabbit-burrow here at my elbow is not 

 silent ; it seems to catch and heighten faint noises 

 from a distance. A man is walking slowly home 

 from his work up the lane yonder ; the fall of his 

 footsteps is distinctly rendered by the hole here. The 

 dull thuds of a far-off mallet or ' bitel ' (beetle) driving 

 in a stake are plainly audible. The thump-thump of a 

 horse's hoofs cantering on the sward by the roadside, 

 though deadened by the turf, are reproduced or 

 sharpened. Most distinct of all comes the regular 

 sound of oars against the tholepins or rowlocks of a 

 boat moving on the lake many fields away. So that 

 in all probability to the rabbit his hole must be a perfect 

 'Ear of Dionysius,' magnifying a whisper — unless, 

 indeed, its turns and windings confuse the undulations 

 of sound. It is observable that before the rabbit 

 ventures forth he stays and listens just within the 

 entrance of his burrow, where he cannot see any 

 danger unless absolutely straight before him — a habit 

 that may have unconsciously grown up from the 

 apparent resonance of sound there. 



Sitting thus silently on the root of the oak, pre- 

 sently I hear a slight rustling among the dead 

 leaves at the bottom of the ditch. They heave up as 



