1 882.] The Gray Rabbit ( Lepus sylvaticus). 937 



and west, and north and south from the pyramids." "Accord- 

 ing to Latrobe, the mounds extend for miles towards Tez'cuco ; 

 and Waddy Thompson is confident that they are the ruins of an 

 ancient city nearly as large as Mexico-" 



THE GRAY RABBIT (LEPUS SYLVATICUS), 



( Continued from November number.) 



'"THE thrifty house-dame, who has a way of " culling simples" 

 * for her cuisine and leech-craft, feels badly hurt when the 

 spring discloses the fact that of her savory pot-herbs the finest 

 tussock has been used by a rabbit as a form through the winter, 

 and the whole middle of it has been killed by the heat of the 

 occupant's body. In a friend's garden a large mat of thyme was 

 thus nearly ruined. Who has not heard of improvident humans 

 eating themselves out of house and home? What self-possession 

 and decorous restraint in this our little solitaire. However 

 pinching the winter's cold and scarce the food, Coney keeps a 

 wise care for his covert from the storm. 



In some things certainly the gray rabbit is quite particular, and 

 sometimes too much so for its own good. So inquisitorious is it 

 of small things on the way, that when in full retreat before the 

 dog, the whistle of the hunter to stop the hound, will some- 

 times stop the rabbit also. Even the clicking when setting the 

 hammer of the gun will check the poor dazed thing in its flight, 

 for it must know what the unusual sound is. True the pause is 

 only for an instant, but that is enough for the sportsman's aim. 

 In the woods the rabbit will course through the underbrush, then, 

 after making a tremendous leap at right angles, will double his 

 track. These movements it will vary with zig-zags, greatly both- 

 ering the hounds;. not seeming to look for a hole unless it be 

 closely pressed, and a hollow tree offers an illusive asylum. In 

 cleared land it makes for a known hiding place. And generally 

 tt knows all the good spots in a wide territory. My friend, Mr. 

 Geo. H. Vanderbeck, an intelligent farmer, gives me the follow- 



