RABBITS AND HARES 
ONE winter evening quite late 
as we chanced to stop beside 
) a spruce tree to look at the 
Mi stars, we were startled by 
LV Thump! Thump! Thump! 
something striking the ground 
hard under the spruce. We 
Meee EE listened; again it came im- 
periously, then we started to investigate, when 
Molly Cottontail, or probably her husband, came 
out from under the spruce and loped off over the 
snow. It was a thump of defiance we had heard, 
because we ventured too near the cover of this little 
creature. This same sound is used for warning when 
several are playing together and one perceives the 
enemy. 
Even more interesting than the domestic rabbits 
are these little wild cottontails. In mowing our 
orchard one day we found a Molly Cottontail’s nest, 
it was under a raspberry bush, and at first sight seemed 
lined with felt of fur and grass; but to our amaze- 
ment we found this felt carpet was a coverlet for 
four young cottontails, which promptly fled helter- 
skelter in the grass; for they seemed to know when 
their cover was off that they were in plain sight of 
the enemy; and we said ‘‘What a wise little mother, 
to tuck in her youngesters so safely when she was 
obliged to leave them.”’ 
The cottontails are very well fitted for the life 
they lead. They are grey in color, which renders 
them almost invisible. They have long ears, which 
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