LITTLE BEASTS OF FIELD AND WOOD 



attempting to bite it, seldom making any rapid 

 or impetuous movement, but moving in a lithe, 

 serpentine manner, sometimes with arched back, 

 and at others with her body held nearly straight 

 and close to the floor of the cage. 



Almost any other of our small animals under 

 similar circumstances would have flown at the 

 sides of the cage, breaking either its teeth or the 

 wires in its endeavours to force an opening. But 

 the only effort of the kind that I witnessed was 

 after she had been confined for several hours, 

 when I found her trying her teeth on the wires 

 in a most careful and business-like manner, but 

 without much apparent enthusiasm. At my ap- 

 proach, she promptly desisted, appearing to dis- 

 miss the project entirely from her mind, though, 

 as subsequent events proved, not wholly giving 

 over her plans for escape by any means. 



Being desirous of observing her manner of 

 eating, I took my gun and went into the woods, 

 and was lucky enough to start a gray rabbit 



82 



