Rabbits at Play. 215 
_be a kind of ancestral hall, the favourite cave of the 
first settlers here, clung to by their descendants. 
Within, perhaps three, or even more, tunnels branch 
off from it. So busy are they, and so occupied when 
excavating a fresh passage, that sometimes when 
waiting quietly on,a bank you may see the miner at 
work. The sand pours out as he casts it behind him 
with his hinder paws; his back is turned, so that he 
does not notice anyone. 
Along the banks evidence may be found of attempts 
at boring holes, abandoned after a few inches of pro- 
gress had been made: sometimes a root, or a stone 
perhaps, interferes; sometimes, and apparently more 
often, caprice seems the only cause why the tunnel 
was discontinued. The grass in this corner is 
sweeter to their taste than elsewhere: their runs are 
everywhere—crossing and winding about. 
In the evening, as the shadows deepen and a hush 
falls upon the meads, they come out and chase and 
romp with each other. When a couple are at play 
one will rush ten or a dozen yards away and begin to 
nibble as if totally unconscious of the other. The 
second meanwhile nibbles too, but all the while 
stealthily moves forward, not direct, but sideways, 
towards the first, demurely feeding. Suddenly the 
second makes a spring; the first, who has been 
watching out of the corners of his eye all the time, is 
off like the wind. Or sometimes he will turn and 
face the other, and jump clean over, a foot high. 
