The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-02-20
CLEFT LIP or A RABBIT.
The Old Negre LEGEND Aecesuting Tor the
Di-GguFiHG Mark.

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Di-GguriHE Mark.
Scientifically there il distinction be
twixt rabbits and harez. although both
belong 70 the genus Lepus- To the lay
mind they are much the same Both are
grass-eaters, afraid Of their own shad-
oHs. with short tails. very soft fur. and
deeply-cieft upper lips.
This is how The darkies account for
the cleft IN the beginning. they say. the
Lord made the rabbit near the first OF his
creating. and set him to watch other
things as they were made. After while
lie formed the moon, gIlded it beautiful
Is. and set il I'D beside tree TO dry Tie
rabbit rad charge OF II. but fell holding.
and let Brer Fox slip In and begin licking
OF the gold. This angered the Deity, who
flung His stick at the sleepy-heasi with
such force IL buried itself in his upper lip
Then by way OF punishment it was or
dained that the mark should descend
through all the rabbit generations. The
dark places OF the moon OF course are
the marks of Brer Tox's tongue.
Rabbits are known otherwise as comics
witness the familiar line Of the Scotch
psalms:
Tie comics are feeble folk
Feeble as they are they constitute a
menace 10 things ever 80 much more pow
erful even 20 man himself. through their
faculty OF growing and spreading. That
has been demonstrated over and over Dy
TIE rabbit plague of Australia Every
body has heard how d nOmesick colonial
turned loose a few pairs in a rabbitless
land. and how within a few years the
pairs had multiplied until they devOured
every green thing and seriously threat
ened the raising Of sheep. The plague is
not yet wholly sbated. although the gov
eminent and the f1Ockmasters together
have spent a good many million dollars.
Trapping. shooting. poisoning, even the
establishment Of canning factories have
only sufnced 10 keep the feeble folk mod
erateiy in check.
''Timid Wat" as English folk call him,
is a vOracious feeder He graZes closer
even than sheep, and like the sheep de-
/ lights 10 season his grasses with tender
bark and buds. Curiously enough when
forage is most plenty, from April to Oc-
tober he is Ieanest and lankest, unit for
eating II full grown, but delcately tooth
some if young The minute frost falls h
begins TO fatten. Three nights of il puJ
him in prime condition. He seldom feeds
then save at night. Indeed that is his
faVOrite Ieeding time throughout the
most part of the year. From March 10
mid May he prefers the earliest morning
/ in which 10 ravage gardens or raven
through budding clover.
All winter long he keeps fat and saucy,
nibbling buds and bark and searching the
desOldJe COrnfieids for overlooked nub-
bins or grazing off the tendereSt stalks
of springing winter wheat. He haunts
orchards, too, not only for scattered ap-
pies. but to nip low-hanging bOughs. and
TO giruie young trees Unchecked he will
quickly and surely destroy a whole newly
set orchard. Indeed, until the bark be-
comes hard and thick he is constant
danger.
He is even a greater pest TO the garden
Early peas. beets. potato slips. he devours
III a night, unless. indeed, the gardener
/ has been wise enough 10 Try hOme0patn-
/ ic prevention. That is 10 say, unless as
his peas and beets peeped above ground,
/ he killed a rabbit. tore II 30 pieces IN a
tub Of water. then trailed 4 swab wet IA
the bloody liquid all around the plot Tim
Id Wat has evidently mighty keen nose
He will not pass the bloody barrier IN
til there falls a hard rain. Then. of course,
ii needs to be renewed. Similarly or
chards are protected by running the
trunks two feet up with a piece of fresh
RABBIT skin.
Rabbit mothers pluck a soft down from
their own breasts 10 line The earth7n bur-
rows in which they rear their young.
| There are four to six of these in a litter,
and from six TO eight Filters a year. Like
kittens. the young rabbits are blind al
I birth, but inside n week they get Sc OF
I eyes and limbs, and in a fortnight are
| frisking about, seeing life on their own
account. They begin to Craze as soon as
/ they leave the nest. which IS nearly al
ways exposed ana but few inches under
ground.
Snowfall develops in Brer Rabbit a curl
! Gus weather instinct. If he hops about
| browsing and frisking, you may be sure
/ there will come but a very few incnes; II
/ he croucnes snug in a grass turf, then
/ look out for at least a foot. As he
/ crouches, he moves gently hack and forth,
| now little on this side now on that.
! Thus he shapes for himself a snow cham
| Der a little bigger than his own body. BY
and by the deepening snow arches II over
but his warm breath melts a tiny hole
! in the roof. thus preventing suffOcatiCn
| Sometimes il is two days before the ferry
occupant leaves this refuge. by that time
the snow is commonly crusted over hard
enough to bear his weighe
When snow lies thus rabbit hunters
/ look close for the breathing holes. Once
| found there are two ways open. One
/ the pot hunters, is 10 fall fiat upon the
hole, and grab Brer Rabbit as he bursts
around above the head, then knock out
his brains. The ether, the SportsmaES is
/ to Tout out the cottOntail, but give him Z
! chance for his life, never slipping a dog
/ in chase, until he has q fair thirty yards
start Both are practiced so successfully
/ every snowy winter it is a slothful farm
! house indeed anywh ere IN 4 rabbit cOIn-
/ try which does not have rabbits by the
/ dozen, 10 broil or stew or smother.