THE RABBIT. 



THESE little animals are very sociable, and 

 fond of living together, and their warrens, 

 as assemblages of their habitations are called, fre- 

 quently contain hundreds of individuals. Their 

 galleries extend sometimes for great distances, 

 and little tunnels ramify in all directions, with 

 many an opening" to the surface, thiis affording 

 the inmates numerous avenues of escape. These 

 apertures do not always give direct access to the 

 nests, but they serve rather as entrance-halls, 

 from which, at intervals, other lanes lead to se- 

 cluded spots in which the young are reared. 



The Rabbit likes to live in a country which 

 has deep dells and steep banks of red sandstone 

 or sand. They like these banks to be o\'erhung 

 with furze and brushwood. On the top of the 

 sandhill, if there is a thin layer of fine black 

 mould, that helps the growth of rich, tender 

 grasses and sweet-smelling herbs, so much the 

 better for Bunny. He digs and burrows into this 

 sand until he has a house with a great many 

 chambers. It is said that he takes a vast deal of 

 care about the drainage of his house, and that the 

 entrance is the lowest point in it. 



Mrs. Bunny digs out a separate house for her 

 babies, at the bottom end of which she makes a 

 sweet little nest or nursery of dried grass, and 

 like a good mother, as she is, she lines it with 

 fur pulled from her own body. Her little babies 

 are born naked and blind, and totally helisless, so 



that it is the more necessary that Mrs. Bunny 

 should show great forethought about them. Poor 

 Mother Bunny, it is a comfort to think that she 

 doesn't know what will become of her children. 



By-the-by, the flesh of wild Rabbits is much 

 better than the flesh of tame Rabbits, and no 

 Rabbit meat ought to be eaten at all unless it's 

 thoroughly cooked, for the stomach of a Rabbit 

 allows certain forms of animal life to pass into 

 the flesh of the rabbit. 



Rabbits are chiefly nocturnal in their habits, 

 although it is not unusual for them to seek their 

 food by day. But at the going down of the sun 

 they commence to l)e lively, and at the opening 

 of each small burrow an active little fellow will 

 suddenly appear, and sitting upon his haunches, 

 will attentively examine the field before him. 

 Apparently satisfied that all is right, he starts 

 forward on his first race for the evening, and with 

 the short white tail erect over his back, bounds 

 over the grass in leaps so similar to those of the 

 stately Buck as to cause him to be frequently 

 called a small Deer. 



Soon tired of his solitary excursion, as the 

 moon rises in the heavens and floods the land- 

 scape with her silver light, our lively friend joins 

 others of his companions, and their fun soon, 

 grows fast and furious. With many a lofty leap, 

 they bound over their fellow's back and rapidly 

 chase each other around the fields. At times the 

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