with. He may double and confuse the dogs ; 

 but as he comes back along a side-road, with 

 them yelping far in the rear, he often hops right 

 into a game-bag. 



To do justice to the intelligence of the dog, 

 and to be truthful about the rabbit, it must be 

 remembered that, in the chase, Bunny usually 

 has the advantage of knowing the lay of the land. 

 The short cuts, streams, logs, briers, and roads 

 are all in mind before he takes a jump. The 

 dog is often on strange ground. Free the rabbit 

 for the hunt, as you do the fox, on unknown 

 territory, and the dogs will soon take the fright- 

 ened, bewildered little creature. 



There is no braver or more devoted mother 

 in all the wilds than Molly Cottontail. She has 

 a mother's cunning and a mother's resourceful- 

 ness, also. But this is to be expected. If number 

 of children count for experience, then, surely, 

 Molly ought to be resourceful. There are sea- 

 sons when she will raise as many as three fam- 

 ilies—and old-fashioned families for size, too. 

 It is not uncommon to find ten young rabbits 

 in a nest. Five times twins ! And all to be 

 fed, washed, and kept covered up in bed toge- 

 [•226] 



