FLUFF-BUTTON THE RABBIT 87 
or man came near, Mother Cuni's keen senses 
discovered him, and a smart ' thump ' summoned 
her family below ground at once. Of course, as 
accidents will happen, not all the six grew up. A 
cunning old vixen from Knockdane came round one 
evening and hid on the brow of the hill. Cuni's 
eldest born grew impatient, and ventured out, in spite 
of his mother's warning ' thumps.' He was never 
seen again, and neither was his sister who fed far 
out in the field one evening and was marked down 
by a stoat. 
When the survivors of the family were grown 
up, Cuni opened out an old gallery, and lined 
it with grass bents and fur from her soft body. 
She grew very morose and shy at this time, and 
would let none of her other offspring venture near. 
A few days later a second litter appeared, but Cuni 
did not lead them out to graze with the others until 
July was well begun. During the long summer 
evenings the rabbits lay and basked in the sun, 
stretching themselves on the hot sand to warm 
their white waistcoats, or fed and frolicked with 
one another. A rabbit is the most humorous and 
cheerful creature in the world those whose lives 
are hardest and most precarious usually are and 
delights in nothing so much as in playing off a mild 
j oke on his fellows. Only Fluff-Button fed apart, and 
