A RABBIT OF THE WORLD. 



through matted galleries of heather and 

 herbage. 



Cowardice is the principal defence of the 

 rabbit, as of all other unarmed rodents. At 

 the first alarm, he flies headlong to his 

 burrow. What swiftness of foot does for 

 the open-nesting hare, that swiftness of 

 retreat does for his underground cousin. 

 Natural selection in such a case favours the 

 most cowardly ; for to be brave is to court 

 immediate extinction. That is why rabbits 

 have the noticeable patch of white under 

 their tails their scuts, as sportsmen very 

 aptly call them. At first sight you would 

 suppose such a conspicuous white mark 

 must be a source of danger. In reality it 

 has been evolved as a patent safety-signal. 

 For while the rabbits crouch and feed, un- 

 seen in the grey grass, they are very little 

 conspicuous ; but the moment one of them 

 spies any cause of alarm, off it scampers to 

 its hole ; and, raising the danger-signal as 

 it goes, it warns the whole warren, all whose 



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