IHB KABBII, 



out of the world than in it, and seconds his opinion with hi> 

 cmel teeth whenever he finds a chance. 



I never myself had the pleasure of observing the behavionr 

 of rabbits when in a wild condition ; the following description, 

 however, by the Rev. J. Gr. Wood, will give the reader a capital 

 notion of what a rabbit warren is like : 



"To see rabbits at their best, it is necessary to be con- 

 cealed closely in their immediate vicinity, and watch them in 

 the early morning or the fall of the evening. No one can form 

 any true conception of the rabbit nature until he has observed 

 the little creatures in their native home, and, when he has done 

 so, he win seize the earUest opportunity of renewing his 

 acquaintance with the droll little creatures. To describe the 

 manifold antics of a rabbit warren would occupy a considerable 

 space. The Uttle animals are such quaint, ludicrous beings, 

 and are full of such comical Uttle coquetries, and such absurd 

 airs of assumed dignity, that they sorely try the gravity of the 

 concealed observer, and sometimes cause him to burst into irre- 

 pressible laughter to their profound dismay. 



" At one time they are gravdy pattering about the doors of 

 the subterranean homes, occasionally sitting upright and gazing 

 in every direction as if fearful of a surprise, and all behaving 

 with the profonndest gravity ; next moment some one gets 

 angry, and stamps his feet upon the ground, as a preliminary 

 observation before engaging in a regular fight. Suddenly a 

 whole party rush at full speed, scampering over the ground as 

 if they meant to run for a mile at least, but, unexpectedly, stop 

 short at an inviting tuft of herbage, and nibble it composedly 

 as if they had not run a yard. Then a sudden panic will flash 

 through the whole party, and, with a rush and a scurry, every 

 rabbit leaps into its burrow, and vanishes from sight like 

 magic. The spot that was so fuU of life a moment since is now 

 deserted as though it had been uninhabited for ages ; but in 

 a few minutes one httle nose is seen cautiously poked out of a 

 burrow, the head and ears follow, and in a very few minutes 

 the frightened rabbits have come again into the light of day, 

 and have recommenced their interrupted pastime." 



In its native state the rabbit is of a uniform brown colour. 

 It exists exclusively on vegetable food, and, as everybody 

 knows who resides near a warren, most destructive and wan- 

 tonly mischievous neighbour. Not only do the smaller green 

 i-hings suffer fiom their depredations, but young trees are often 

 utterly ruined through the destruction of the bark about theii 



