260 FAMILIAR LIFE IN FIELD AND FOREST. 



but the accent of those two black ears is just one 

 more charm which rounds out the "moonlight 

 monotone" to its fullest perfection. 



But to the man who owns the apple orchard, 

 the picture ceases to be beautiful; his eye is ob- 

 scured with the black whisperings of vengeance, 

 and thinking only of the danger threatening his 

 new trees, he reaches for his gun, and sallies forth 

 into the night with the intention of making a red 

 mark just under the two black ears. 



Lepus transition ulis, a rabbit of the woods, is quite 

 as frequently a rabbit of the orchard ; and the amount 

 of damage he is capable of doing there is in- 

 calculable. He girdles the trees, gnaws 

 the lower twigs, and even climbs 

 into the environing shrubbery 

 to reach the higher ones and 

 denude them of bark and 

 '/'^ buds. But besides the 



■ - -..-^ -'-'■mw apple tree, he feeds on the 



"Mollie Cottontail." 



briers, sumachs, hazels, 

 black birches, hickories, and shrubbery in general 

 wliich he finds on the roadside and in the garden. He 

 has also other enemies than man, chief among which 

 are the fox, ermine, eagle, and great horned owl ; 

 besides these he is subject to attacks by the snowy 

 owl, the larger hawks, the marten, and the mink. 



