66 NATURE STUDY LESSONS FOR PRIMARY GRADES 



We have learned something about Bunny's ene- 

 mies. Why do gardeners and fruit raisers often kill 

 rabbits? (Because they eat their vegetables in the 

 summer and gnaw their fruit trees in the winter.) 

 Why do they gnaw the fruit trees in the winter? 

 (Food is scarce then and they like the bark of trees.) 

 Do they gnaw young or old trees? (Young trees, 

 because they have tender bark.) What kind of teeth 

 must the rabbit have to gnaw this bark? (Sharp 

 teeth.) Must all the teeth be sharp? (The front 

 ones, at least, must be so.) What else should be true 

 of the front teeth that they may nibble off the bark? 

 (They should be long.) Why? (So his gums will not 

 be injured by the wood of the tree.) Something else 

 must be true of his teeth, also. Think of the kind of 

 food he is getting and how he is getting it. (They 

 must be strong.) Let us open Bunny's mouth — for 

 tame Bunny has teeth like those of wild Bunny — 

 and see if his front teeth are sharp, long, and strong. 

 What do you see? (Two long, sharp, strong teeth 

 in each jaw.) Here are some of Bunny's teeth 

 (taken from a skull) and here are some knives. 

 Let us see if the front and back part of the teeth 

 are equally hard. (The front is the harder.) As he 

 nibbles the hard bark, what will become of the softer 



