72 WHY HAVE RABBITS WHITE SCUTS ? 



flag so glaringly displayed. In the roe, it may be noted, 

 the tail itself is not white. Being only about three 

 inches long, it lies concealed in the pelage of a great 

 white disk covering part of the upper haunches. 



In the rabbit, the white fur is confined to the lower 

 surface of the tail, the fur on the upper surface being 

 blackish ; so that the animal, in running away from an 

 enemy, needs only to depress its tail in order to conceal 

 the white part. But it never does so ; even when going 

 at full speed it carries its scut erect, as if inviting 

 pursuit. 



In his interesting and suggestive essay on Wild 

 Traits in Tame Animals, 1 Mr. Louis Robinson hazards 

 an interpretation of the puzzle which seems somewhat 

 short of convincing. He sets out by stating the pro- 

 blem with perfect fairness. ' Why,' he asks, ' are many 

 creatures which have every reason for avoiding notice, 

 marked so conspicuously as to be visible to every eye ? ' 

 He admits that deer and rabbits incur greater risks of 

 detection and pursuit by displaying their white flags, 

 than they would if they could keep them furled ; and 

 he accounts for their having been denied the power of 

 doing so by the hypothesis that, these animals being 

 gregarious, their white posteriors act as alarm signals 

 to each other. 



This theory might pass muster in default of a better 

 if the white signal were hoisted at one time more than 

 another; but that is not the case. Rabbits hopping 

 about at their ease in a meadow flourish their white 

 scuts as freely as when they bolt in dire dread of a dog 



1 Edinburgh, Black wood and Son, 1897. 



