_ABOUT RABBITS._
[Illustration]
1. We here come to the rabbit, one of our innocent and harmless
friends that is a great pet with children. It is very timid and easily
scared, but when treated kindly it becomes tame.
2. The rabbit is about the size of a cat, and has a short tail. The
wild gray rabbit is not so large as the tame rabbit which we have
about the house.
3. The rabbit has sharp gnawing-teeth like the rat and mouse, and it
gets its food and eats it in the same way.
4. It eats the leaves and stalks of plants, and is very fond of
cabbage, lettuce, and the tender leaves of beets and turnips. It
sometimes does much damage by gnawing the bark of young fruit-trees.
5. It has whiskers like the cat, so that it can crawl into holes
without making a noise.
6. Its fore feet are armed with strong, blunt claws. It can not climb,
but it is able to dig holes in the earth.
7. Our wild rabbit lives in the grass, or in holes which it finds in
stumps and hollow trees, and among stones; but the English rabbit digs
a hole in the soft ground for its home.
8. The holes that the rabbits dig are called _burrows_; and where a
great many rabbits have burrows close together, the place where they
live is called a _warren_.
9. The burrows have two or more doors, so that if a weasel or some
other enemy goes in at one door, the rabbit runs out at the other. In
a warren, many burrows open into one another, forming quite a village
under ground.
10. The rabbits choose a sandy place for a warren, near a bank, where
they can dig easily, and where the water will run off. In these homes
they sleep most of the time during the day, and come out by night to
feed on such plants as they can find. When wild, the dew gives them
drink enough; but when fed with dry grain food, they need water.