NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RABBIT 33 



been reported in which these birds have been picked 

 up dead, and found on examination to have their 

 crops filled, or partly filled, with yew leaves.' Death 

 seems to have been due to the action of the poisonous 

 leaves producing inflammation of the digestive organs ; 

 but why well-fed pheasants should sometimes eat 

 yew leaves, and on other occasions pass them un- 

 touched, it is difficult to explain. Shirley mentions a 

 case in which deer were poisoned by eating yew at 

 Badminton in Gloucestershire.^ 



M. Barbier, of Orleans, writing in December, 1892, 

 recommended the Corsican pine as the only tree un- 

 touched by rabbits where planted with Finns sylvestris 

 and black Austrian pine; but this only shows that 

 where several different kinds are growing together, 

 the Corsican pine may be the least appreciated. In a 

 woody district in Sussex, where a field was planted with 

 this, it was found that nearly every plant was gnawed 

 and injured. Although the shoots are not always 

 eaten, they are often nibbled, and pieces taken off the 

 bark, so as to cause the resinous sap to run down. 



The unsightly appearance and cost of smearing 

 make it of very little use. Extensive plantations are 



' See The Field, November 25 and December 2, 1876 ; De- 

 cember 20, 1890 ; September 17, 1892, and November 1 1, 1893. 

 " English Deer Parks, p. 245. 



D 



