46 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



much of what is supposed to be due not only to 

 the principle of protective, but to that, also, of 

 conspicuous, or distinctive, coloration. Take, for 

 instance, the rabbit's tail. I have never been able 

 to make out that the accepted theory in regard to 

 it is borne out by the creature's habits. Rabbits 

 race and run not only in alarm, but as an outcome 

 of high spirits. How can the white tail distinguish 

 between these two causes ; and if it cannot, why 

 should it be a sign to follow ? One rabbit may 

 indeed judge as to the state of mind of another, but 

 not by looking at the tail ; and if too far off to see 

 anything else, it can form no opinion. Again, each 

 rabbit has its own burrow, and it does not follow 

 that because one runs to it here, another should 

 there. Accordingly, I have noticed that white tails 

 in rapid motion produce no effect upon other tails, 

 or their owners, when these are some way off, but 

 that rabbits, alarmed, make their near companions 

 look about them. Of course, in the case of a 

 general stampede, in the dusk, to the warren from 

 which numbers of the rabbits may have strayed 

 away it is easy to imagine that the rearmost are 

 following the white tails of those in front of them ; 

 or rather that these have given them the alarm, 

 since all know the way to the warren. But how 

 can one tell that this is really so, seeing that the 

 alarm in such a case is generally due to a man 

 stalking up ? Would it not look exactly the same 

 in the case of prairie marmots, whose tails are not 

 conspicuously coloured ? Young rabbits, it is true, 

 would follow their dams when they ran, in fear, to 

 their burrows ; not, however, unless they recognised 



