^eer Ways of Br er Rabbit. 43 



find him ; not with gun and dog, for then the keen 

 interest and quick sympathy needed to appreciate 

 any phase of animal hfe gives place to the coarser 

 excitement of the hunt ; and not by going about after 

 Bunny, for your heavy footsteps and the rustle of 

 leaves will only send him scurrying away into safer 

 solitudes. Find where he loves to meet with his 

 fellows, in quiet little openings in the woods. There 

 is no mistaking his playground when once you have 

 found it. Go there by moonlight and, sitting still in 

 the shadow, let your game find you, or pass by with- 

 out suspicion ; for this is the best way to hunt, whether 

 one is after game or only a better knowledge of the 

 ways of bird and beast. 



The very best spot I ever found for watching 

 Bunny's ways was on the shore of a lonely lake in the 

 heart of a New Brunswick forest. I hardly think that 

 he was any different there, for I have seen some of his 

 pranks repeated within sight of a busy New England 

 town; but he was certainly more natural. He had 

 never seen a man before, and he was as curious about 

 it as a blue jay. No dog's voice had ever wakened 

 the echoes within fifty miles ; but every sound of the 

 wilderness he seemed to know a thousand times better 

 than I. The snapping of the smallest stick under 

 the stealthy tread of fox or wildcat would send him 

 scurrying out of sight in wild alarm ; yet I watched a 



