938 The Gray Rabbit ( Lepus sylvaticus). [December, 



ing : Once after a heavy fall of snow he marked a rabbit trail at 

 considerable distance from the house. It led in a straight line to 

 the hennery, in which the game was found, having sought this 

 shelter from the cold. From the directness of the trail it was 

 evident that the animal had full knowledge of this retreat. He 

 told me too of an old buck which he had often tried to take, but 

 which would either by a direct or circuitous route, retreat to a 

 deserted marmot's or woodchuck's hole, which it had long occu- 



Two distinct kinds of tracks have been mentioned, that which 

 is made in retreat and that which is made when foraging. To 

 these a third must be added having two sets of imprints, in lines 

 close and parallel to each other, and the step-marks at very short 

 distances. These are the courting tracks. At the turn of mid- 

 winter, or about the beginning of February the male looks up 

 his mate or mates. While the love emotion is on, prudence is 

 off; hence, less cautious than usual, they do fall into some indis- 

 cretions which imperil their safety. In truth it is with these sim- 

 ple • folks much as it is with some thought to be wiser— when 

 much love is in, some wit is out. If the snow or the ground 

 be soft, these double-tracks, or courting ways, betray what is 

 going on, and sometimes the nearness of the lovers. Our rabbit 

 likes a bit of play in the evening twilight and the early morning 

 dawn, hence it has been called a crepuscular animal. But it is 

 essentially a nocturnal, like the rodents generally; and the even- 

 ing and the morning are its wooing day. The connubial impact 

 made, the doe has much to pull through, for the gay father is 

 away with other loves. If the season prove favorable, three and 

 perhaps four litters are to be raised ere the next winter comes. 

 As an old rabbiter said: "Three crops in one season is only 

 moderate for a she rabbit." 



As to the breeding habits of the wood-hare, it must surely 

 have undergone a change in the well populated places east. A 

 thorough hunter tells me, he has never found a nest in the woods 

 nor even a very young rabbit there ; that for breeding they prefer 

 the cleared land. This habit secures an open look-out and guards 

 against surprise. 



But the breeding nest of the gray rabbit is a simple affair. A 

 hole is scratched sloping downward into the ground about eighteen 

 inches. The slope is slight, so that the nest is very near the sur- 



