In the heart of the rabbit fear constantly abides. How her eyes
protrude! She can see back and front and on all sides as well as a
bird. The fox is after her, the owls are after her, the gunners are
after her, and she has no defense but her speed. She always keeps well
to cover. The northern hare keeps in the thickest brush. If the hare or
rabbit crosses a broad open exposure it does so hurriedly, like a mouse
when it crosses the road. The mouse is in danger of being pounced upon
by a hawk, and the hare or rabbit by the snowy owl, or else the great
horned owl.
A friend of mine was following one morning a fresh rabbit track through
an open field. Suddenly the track came to an end, as if the creature
had taken wings—as it had after an unpleasant fashion. There, on
either side of its last foot imprint, were several parallel lines in
the snow, made by the wings of the great owl that had swooped down and
carried it off. What a little tragedy was seen written there upon the
white, even surface of the field!
The rabbit has not much wit. I once, when a boy, saw one that had
been recently caught, liberated in an open field in the presence of a
dog that was being held a few yards away. But the poor thing lost all
presence of mind and was quickly caught by the clumsy dog.
A hunter once saw a hare running upon the ice along the shore of one of
the Rangeley lakes. Presently a lynx appeared in hot pursuit; as soon
as the hare found it was being pursued, it began to circle, foolish
thing. This gave the lynx greatly the advantage, as it could follow in
a much smaller circle. Soon the hare was run down and seized.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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