314 WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS. 



between a general law — viz., that all clearly- 

 defined and widely - distributed attributes have 

 justified their existence by preserving the race 

 from extinction — and the actual and obvious fact 

 that every defenceless beast showing a white tail 

 to its foes is thereby rendered less likely to 

 survive than its neighbours which are not so 

 advertised. 



If we carefully observe the conduct of some 

 of these white-tailed animals we shall get a hint 

 as 'to the utility of their peculiar attribute. For 

 this purpose the common wild rabbit is more 

 useful to us than the deer, because we have no 

 difficulty in finding him in every part of the 

 country. 



If we walk along a hedge-side on a summer 

 evening just as it is getting dark, we find that a 

 wild rabbit when grazing is a very inconspicuous 

 animal, but the moment when it takes alarm and 

 canters away its white tail betrays its where- 

 abouts. Even when it is very dark (it is never 

 pitch dark under the open sky) there is no diffi- 

 culty whatever in seeing a moving blotch of white 

 against the dark grass or foliage. Now let us 

 find some suitable ambush close to a bank or a 

 hedge frequented by rabbits. For this purpose 



