2o8 
NATURE NOTES. 
look to the aid of the Commons Preservation Society to check 
the mischief that has already been done, and nip in the bud any 
further developments ; for if this course of action is allowed in 
one spot, it will be followed up by something worse in another. 
The lesson we would drive home to all those who commend and 
applaud the destructive work wrought by the golf club at 
Mitcham, is that Nature’s handiwork must not be ruined to 
suit a required end. 
Archibald Clarke. 
TWO OF MY PETS. 
E of the tamest and most affectionate rabbits I had 
was a white doe whose fur was so spotless that she 
looked like a little white lamb — a toy lamb I mean. 
On this account I called her “ Agnes.” She knew her 
name and would come immediately when called by it. When 
quite a little mite she broke her right leg, and I, having been 
brought up to veterinary surgery, set it for her, and in a few 
months’ time it was as sound as the other. It was doubtless 
the petting she received at my hands which made her so tame 
and fond of me. When she grew older she delighted to jump on 
my knee and sit there and go to sleep. 
She had a very pretty way of jumping about on her hind legs. 
Other rabbits would sit up in an erect posture for a minute when 
expecting a caress or some dainty green leaf, but Agnes would 
follow me about with her fore legs in the air and her head 
stretched up as high as possible, jumping along almost like a 
little kangaroo. I kept my bunnies in an out-house, next to 
which was a portion of the garden fenced in with wire netting. 
This was their exercise ground, and it was to me a real pleasure 
to watch them jumping and frisking about. The floor of their 
pen I found it advisable to pave with flagstones and bricks, but 
I was accoustomed to having a barrow load or two of sand 
thrown down in a heap for them to amuse themselves burrowing 
in. I had hutches for them but these were only used for sleep- 
ing places, and they were only fastened in at night. 
I have kept but few birds in captivity, as I have always 
considered it cruel to keep such lovers of freedom in a small 
cage where they can scarcely stretch their wings. l\Iy feathered 
pets were the birds which frequented our garden in the winter 
and which I regularly fed. The thrushes, blackbirds, robins 
and wrens, not to mention the sparrows, which would almost 
take the bread out of my hands, were on most familiar terms 
with me, and I could not have seen more of them had I kept 
them in an aviary. One winter, however, I found a poor frozen- 
out moorhen, cowering under a gooseberry bush. I took the 
poor dying bird up and put it in a packing case, then gave it 
