Alice and Beatrice

								

pretty white or black rabbits are not so strong as the brown ones, they
are usually kept in little houses, and fed with cabbage leaves and other
food, because the cold in winter might kill them. In Devonshire the
winter is not very cold; so I suppose that these rabbits do not suffer
from it, and that they have learnt to make themselves warm houses in the
earth, as the wild rabbits do.’
‘Will you tell us, grandmamma, how the wild rabbits make themselves
houses in the ground?’
‘They make or burrow holes in the ground, digging out the earth with
their feet, as you must have seen a dog scratching and digging with his
feet. But the rabbits dig long passages under the earth, and often near
or under a tree. I have read that the rabbits first dig down straight
till the hole is deep, and that then they make a passage, and sometimes
turn upwards again, or make it crooked, to prevent dogs finding them and
killing them.
‘Rabbits live together in great numbers, and it is called a warren. They
like a sandy or gravelly soil to burrow in, and make the entrance to the
little house often under a furze bush that it may not be seen. Sometimes
they loosen the roots of trees so much that the trees fall; and where
there are many rabbits in a warren, the ground is very unsafe, for if
any one was riding, the horse’s foot might go through, and he would
fall, and perhaps break his leg and throw his rider. Even in walking you
might stumble, by getting your foot into a rabbit hole, which is not
easily seen. I have heard, too, that rabbits have undermined walls and
buildings, and made them unsafe.’
‘What is undermined, grandmamma?’
‘It means making a hole or mine under the ground; and when these holes
are made in soft sand or gravel beneath a heavy wall, it will fall into
the hole.’
‘Will you tell us what the wild rabbit eats?’
‘It eats nearly everything it can get; but it is very fond of all our
vegetables, and would soon spoil our gardens if it came into them. The
wild rabbit lives in the fields and meadows and woods, and eats the
young buds of the bushes and young trees; it likes especially the tender
roots of the furze bushes, and it nibbles the soft bark of the trees,
and spoils a great number of them. There are also many plants and roots
that it lives on.’
The children then asked to go to the end of the field, and look down on
to the sea beneath; and they all went on walking till they came to the
edge of the field. The two little girls called out with pleasure and
surprise, for they saw beyond and below them a number of large rocks,
which looked like great towers, close to the steep cliff, on the edge of
which they were now standing.
Some of these rocks were slender and pointed, and sharp on the top, and
many were strangely shaped, and lay scattered about; but one tall piece
of rock stood out alone, nearly in the sea, as if it had been cut off
the cliff, and on the top was perched a sea-gull.