the soil so perfectly as to render its whereabouts inconspicuous. 

 So true is this fact that the rabbit himself has learned to make use 

 of it and often will not believe that he is the object of your at- 

 tention until your hand is almost within reach of him, when forth 

 he suddenly leaps, and nine times out of ten eludes that particular 

 hand. His stubby legs are too short to make him much of a run- 

 ner, so he will try to get away into some crevice in the rocks, or 

 some burrow beneath the twisted roots of a tree, from which it is 

 impossible to dig him out. Man is not his only foe, though, and 

 in this case the weasel proves superior to human persistency, as its 

 elasticity of movement allows it to penetrate any such hiding place, 

 subterranean invasion being, indeed, one of its regular sources of 

 food-supply. Besides dogs, the companions of men in their pursuit 

 of him, foxes, mink, skunks and hawks, as well as the weasel, all 

 are his enemies and at their enumeration we little wonder that he 

 always appears to be on the watch and very quick to take the alarm. 



160 



