48 JANUARY 



the ground. I found a single stem fixed by a keeper in 

 an open field eaten almost up to this point. The rabbit 

 must have been a large specimen that stood as upright as 

 a man while it made its meal. Later evidence of a yet 

 more thorough attack was forthcoming. A precious 

 conifer, of silver foliage, had been planted with a circular 

 protection of so-called rabbit wire. So far from protect 

 ing the young trunk, the defence had proved the rabbit s 

 opportunity. It had apparently stood on the top, and 

 by means of this convenient ladder had managed to gnaw 

 the bark from the whole of the upright part of the trunk 

 of the young tree till the needles began. 



The hare may be as destructive as the rabbit ; indeed, 

 in a garden, with its peculiar passion for anything that 

 passes for a carnation, it is more destructive. But hares 

 are few and rabbits are many. A &quot; happy countryman,&quot; 

 with whom I inspected some of their depredations, sug 

 gested the theory that the grass grew so rankly this year 

 and, indeed, many fields are matted with grass that 

 it became inedible and bark was the rabbits only refuge. 

 However that may be, walking through a garden of 

 Eden, where Nature had been left free and had sown 

 may bushes broadcast, you might have thought that 

 the. thorn was of a barkless variety as to the first foot or 

 two. As for the hollies, they were bitten to the bone 

 without the omission of a particle. 



At this time of year the pathways of animals stand out 

 as upon a road-map. On one rough mound of deserted 

 ground the rabbits were legion at the beginning of the 

 year. By the compulsion of mere numbers they were 

 forced into longer journeys than their wont in search of 

 food. They made well-trodden paths to distant hedge 

 rows. The numbers were ruthlessly reduced in several 

 campaigns. After each the more distant reaches of their 



