RABBIT SIGNALS

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 88, 15 April 1913, Page 6

RABBIT SIGNALS

"ALL CLEAR" AND "DANGER!"!

A LANGUAGE OF SOUNDS. j — ■ ■ i

Rabbits, an Australian! observer has discovered, can readily communi- | cat© with one another. "Theirs is ' a language of sounds," says a. writer , in a Sydney paper, "but not those sounds -emanating from tho throat, i In every large colony of rabbit ' warren there are one or two rabbits ! whose duty it is to give warning on j the approach of danger. The senti- i nel rabbit is often an old buck of ex- ' penence. He creeps to the peep- i hole, and if the coast seems dear, '

come out cautiously on to tihe ean&* hill. If all is quiet he strikes the sand sharply with his left hind foot, making a dull thumping noise, whichis easily heard in the tunnels beneath. Three times he repeats the signal in rapid succession, and in a few minutes the sandhill is alive with his comrades. He stays quietly on the outside, perhaps under a saK>4| bush, and keeps watch while the kittens gambol about or the older ■ ones move more leisurely about. A '■ twig snaps-/-the spy rabbit is on the alert, beats sharply once with his left ; foot, and in less than it takes to I write ft there is not a rabbit in sight. I Times without number I have observ- | ed a warren near the old homestead; j but never once have I seen the rabbit [ sentinel use his right foot. The | rabbit's supersensitivoness is often j the cause of his being considered j silly. For example, rabbits fright- ! ened on to a netting fence will ruit blindly along it, and are easily killed ! by a person with a stick, at the other | end, although by doubling back j quickly at an angle they could readj ily escape. The nervous fright of I the animal is the cause, of his foolish i action."