THE RABBIT. 223 



wood at the mountain-foot to the west, and here, 

 among the loose rocks, thickly overgrown with 

 bracken and briar, they make homes for them- 

 selves, free to do what they choose. 



THE OVERFLOW FOREST. 



This wood is really the overflow reservoir for 

 the home-burrow. Each year scores of young 

 rabbits have been taken to the burrow, remaining 

 there till old enough to take care of themselves ; 

 and then, bullied and harried by some old buck, 

 they have gladly moved to the shelter of the 

 wood, which, as the season proceeds, becomes 

 thronged with the surplus stock of young rabbits. 

 Were it not for this the home-burrow would 

 become overcrowded, and disease, nature's never- 

 failing remedy, would fall upon the colony. 



COMMUNICATION. 



Almost all animals of gregarious habits have ways 

 of signalling danger to one another. The beaver, 

 when alarmed, strikes the water with its tail as 

 it dives ; and this system of signalling is of value 

 in that it conveys the warning to the members 

 of the colony who are under water, preventing 

 them from rising hap-hazard, while at the same 

 time the loud report is heard by the beavers on 

 land, admonishing them to be on the qui vive. The 

 rabbit thumps the ground with his hind-legs when 

 danger threatens, and, just like the 'smack' system 

 employed by the beaver, this notice conveys the 

 tidings to those below in addition to those feeding 

 on the earth's surface. 



One of the first things young rabbits learn to 

 do is to signal danger by thumping the ground 

 with their strong hind-legs, and it is to be feared 



