Alimafias 341 
clenched talons survey his every movement ; on the earth lynxes, 
cats, and foxes subsist chiefly on him; while below ground 
foumart and mongoose penetrate his farthest retreats year in and 
year out. He seems to possess absolutely no protection, yet he 
endures all this, supports his enemies, and increases, ever, to 
appearance, gaily unconscious of the perils that beset him. 
Once, however, let misfortune overtake the rabbit, and his cry of 
distress brings instant response—from scrub and sky, from 
thicket and lurking lair, assemble the fiercer folk, each intent on 
his flesh. 
It is upon this fact that the system of calling, or, in Spanish, 
chillando, is based. The instrument is simple. A crab’s claw, 
or the green bark of a two-inch twig slipped off its stalk, will, in 
the lips of an adept, produce just such a ery of cunicular distress. 
Armed with this, and observing the wind, one takes post con- 
cealed by bush but commanding some open glade in front. The 
most favourable time is dawn and dusk—the latter for choice, 
since then predatory animals are waking up hungry. The first 
“call” by our Spanish companion almost startles by its lifelike 
verisimilitude. At short intervals these ringing distress-signals 
resound through the silent bush; if no response follows, we try 
another spot. First, a distant kite or buzzard, hearing the call, 
comes wheeling this way, but naturally the birds-of-prey from 
their lofty point of view detect the human presence and pursue 
their quest elsewhere. The rabbits themselves, from some 
inexplicable cause, are among the first to respond. 
Within that opposite wall of jungle you detect a furtive 
movement; presently with jerky, spasmodic gait a rabbit darts 
out; it sits trembling with staring eyes and ears laid aback ; 
another rolls over on its side and performs strange antics as 
though under hypnotic influence. In two minutes you have a 
séance of mesmerised rabbits. 
My companion touches me on the arm; away beyond, and 
half behind him (almost on the wind), stands a fox intently gazing. 
Before the gun can be brought to bear it is necessary to step 
round the keeper’s front, and one expects that that first move- 
ment will mean the instant disappearance of the vulpine. Not 
so! There he stands, statuesque, while the manceuvre is executed. 
Is he, too, hypnotised ? On one occasion the authors, standing 
shoulder to shoulder with the keeper behind them, were only 
