Numerically, the rabbits are more than equal to the total of other
species, whether bird or beast.[1] In dry seasons, they swarm in the
lighter tracts of the wood, and burrow in every part of it. These
wood-rabbits differ in their way of life from those in the open warren
outside. Their burrows are less intricate, and not massed together in
numbers as in the open. On the other hand, the whole rabbit population of
the one hundred acres seems to keep in touch, and occasionally moves in
large bodies from one part of the area to another. During one spring and
early summer the first broods of young rabbits burrowed tunnels under the
wire-netting which encircled the boundary for many hundred yards, and went
into a large field of barley adjoining. This they half destroyed. By the
middle of August it was found that, instead of the barley being full of
rabbits, it was deserted. They had all returned to the wood, and were in
their turn bringing up young families. One colony deserted the wood
altogether, and formed a separate warren some hundreds of yards away on a
steep hillside. On the eastern boundary the river is a complete check to
their migration. Except in the great frosts, when the Thames is frozen, no
rabbit ever troubles to cross it. Hares do so frequently when coursed, and
occasionally when under no pressure of danger. After harvest, when the
last barley-fields are cut, the wood is full of hares. They resort to it
from all quarters for shelter, and do not emerge in any number until after
the fall of the leaf. During the months of August, September, and October
these hares, which during the spring and winter lie out in the most open
parts of the hills above, lead the life of woodland animals. In place of
lying still in a form throughout the day, they move and feed. At all hours
they may be heard fidgeting about in the underwood and "creeping" in the
regularly used paths in the thick cover. When disturbed they never go at
speed, but, confident in the shelter of the wood, hop and canter in
circles, without leaving cover. In the evening they come out into the
rides, and thence travel out into the clover layers, returning, like the