THE STORY OF THE RABBIT. 
From the day of its birth till the day of its death a rabbit spends most 
of its time dodging or fighting the enemies that seek its. life. All the 
larger birds of prey are constantly on the lookout for rabbits, and were it 
not for the tangled vines and the briar hedges, bunny would find it more 
difficult to escape than he does with their friendly aid. Almost every four- 
footed meat-eating animal is a foe to the rabbit—minks, weasels, skunks, 
wolves, foxes, cats and dogs. Certain snakes will eat rabbits, and are par¬ 
ticularly fond of young rabbits. Against all these enemies on land and in 
air, and against the arch-enemy of all animal life, the man with a gun, Bunny 
is required to be constantly on guard. Hence he leads an active life, full 
of peril and hair-breadth escapes. 
He has two^ means of protecting himself—one is to kick out hard and 
strong with his hind legs, and he kills many snakes in this way, and the 
other is to run. Usually he runs. We malign the poor creature by stig¬ 
matizing it as cowardly or timid, because it runs away when it is hunted. 
Half a dozen men, together with a pack of dogs, band together in pursuit 
iof one defenseless hare, which is likely to run away under such circum¬ 
stances. There is scarcely any animal, from an elephant or lion downward, 
that would not run away in like manner; and it is very unfair to brand the 
poor rabbit with an offensive epithet because it does not attempt to fight 
men and a pack of hounds. 
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