THE RABBIT OR CONY 227 



Irish woods a particular tree is barked by rabbits in such a way 

 as to suggest that their object was other than to seek food. 



The white flesh, so distinct from the brown meat of the 

 hares, attracted the attention of Herbert Spencer,^ who con- 

 nected the differences between the white and red muscles with 

 the relative activity of the two animals. According to Spencer, 

 birds and mammals show greater endurance along with the 

 darker coloured muscles ; and, with the same result, he com- 

 pared the flesh of old and young animals, veal and beef, lamb 

 and mutton, and the flesh of different parts of the same animal, 

 as the leg- and pectoral-muscles of so many birds, such as 

 turkeys, guinea-fowls, and pheasants.^ 



The scream of a frightened or wounded rabbit is well 

 known to dwellers in the country. It is pitched so high in 

 the very young as to remind one of the shrill cry of a bat. 

 But there are also some peculiar grunting sounds, some of which 

 have been mentioned above. They are somewhat difficult to 

 express in words, since, although distinctly grunts, there is a just 

 perceptible element of shrillness in them. A buck in the spring 

 will approach another rabbit, stamping its hind feet at intervals ; 

 as it gets nearer, it begins to grunt frequently and very audibly, 

 and eventually one, generally the second rabbit, retreats, and 

 is chased by the other. In a note by an anonymous writer,' 

 the grunts are said to be the common property of both tame 

 and wild rabbits, and the action is likened to a hiccough, or to 

 the word "huck" in the throat, without moving the lips; the 

 flanks alone move. The grunt, which is a sound of pleasure, 

 may be rapidly repeated ; it may be " a single enquiring grunt " 

 or "a single long-drawn sighing grunt." The latter is 

 accompanied by an impatient stamp of the hind feet, a 

 characteristic method of expressing the feelings that seems to 

 be a useful supplement to the grunts, especially in the resonant 

 burrows. Anger is expressed by a low growl. The writer quoted 

 believes the grunt to be confined to adults, but it has been 



' Principles of Biology, revised edition, 1889 (vol. ii.), 365 



^ Spencer's generalisation will not stand examination. Dark-fleshed birds, like 

 the ptarmigans of Spitzbergen and Alaska, are very inactive — much more so than the 

 pheasant and partridge, which are, the former partially, the latter wholly, white-fleshed. 



' B. P., Field, nth March 1905, 414, a note which must be quoted, although 

 anonymous, in default of a better. 



