Quadrupeds. 969 



Habits of the Bush or Stub Rabbit. In confirmation of the observations contained 

 in the March number on the habits of the bush or stub rabbit, and its unwillingness to 

 take to its burrow, like other rabbits, except in very urgent cases, (Zool. 903) ; I ven- 

 ture to mention the following occurrence, which took place many years ago, in Kent. 

 In many parts of that county, and the neighbouring one of Essex, the propensity of 

 the wood or stub rabbit not to go to earth, is well known ; and very small and beau- 

 tiful little beagles, called rabbit-beagles, are kept by most farmers for the purpose of 

 hunting them ; hardly large or fast enough to run down, even in many hours, a stout 

 hare, still the persevering energy with which these little hounds will hunt a rabbit, re- 

 wards their toil in the end, either by fairly catching it themselves, or, which is very 

 often the case, by the aid of the master's gun. Several years ago, in the month of 

 March, I was invited by a friend to the residence of his brother, then unoccupied, in a 

 part of Kent adjoining some woodlands, of very great extent. After having remain- 

 ed there for a couple of days, it was arranged that we should, the next day, have my 

 friend's little pack of beagles out, consisting of about seven couple, and of which he 

 was very proud. No one of these active little things was larger than a lady's lap-dog, 

 but they were very strong, and most beautifully formed and marked, and their notes 

 " most musical." Early one morning, I was summoned by my friend to accompany 

 him upon the previously arranged hunting-expedition, and the weather being then 

 very warm, when the sun was full out, the scent later in the day would consequently 

 have been soon gone. It was therefore scarcely complete daylight, when my friend, 

 myself, and his man, all on foot, and the two former with guns, accompanied by the 

 seven couple of beagles, set forth from the house ; and after crossing several fields, 

 and coming near a large wild woody district, called the Chart, the hounds were there 

 thrown off, and we tried several likely spots, and, as I truly believed at the time, in 

 search of a hare. After some time, a most musical and heart-stirring note sprung 

 from one of these little beagles, in which all the others speedily joined, and away they 

 went, down a hedge-row, across a couple of fields and into the Chart. Here the hounds 

 had the best of the hunters, and fairly left us behind, the underwood being so thick 

 and difficult to get through. Still I was at a loss to know why we should carry the 

 guns, but believed it was to kill any woodcocks we might meet with in our run, of 

 which I was told there were often a good many in these extensive woods. Our little 

 pack got away from us, completely out of sight, though not quite out of hearing, and 

 after running far into the cover, turned again, and came back towards us ; and then 

 my friend told me, for the first time, the purport of carrying the gun, not so much to 

 kill any woodcocks we might meet with, as to shoot what the little hounds might not 

 of themselves be otherwise able to run into. " Sometimes," said my friend, " we have 

 a run for a couple of hours or more, aud I wait, till in the end I generally get a shot, 

 and kill it." This seemed to me but an odd system of hunting, but I did as I was 

 told, and tried to get a-head of the hounds in cover, so as to get a shot as directed to 

 do ; but most fatiguing and distressing as this was, from the powerful heat of the sun 

 and closeness of the woods, I never could quite accomplish my purpose ; for although 

 I seemed to be just in the right place, I never could discover the hare, though some- 

 times a rabbit would cross me at full speed, but no hare. At last my friend, more 

 fortunate than myself, shot, and his fine, clear whoo-whoop declared the chase was 

 over, and which had then lasted more than an hour. I approached the spot, and found 

 all our little four-footed companions baying and barking round my friend, who, like 

 myself, was in a profuse perspiration, and thoroughly tired with running, aud at whose 



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