DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70300#0214
186
kirby’s wonderful museum.
that among a thousand of them no two could be found ex-
actly similar; a circumstance little suspected by those who
have not had an opportunity to observe it. These creatures
have a singular’ sagacity in discovering the minutest alteration
that is made in the place to which they are accustomed, and
instantly apply their nose to the examination of a new object.
A small hole being burned in the carpet, it ■was mended with
a patch, and that patch in a moment underwent the strictest
scrutiny. They seem, too, to be very much directed by the
smell in the choice of their favourites : to some persons,
though they saw them daily, they could never be reconciled,
and would even scream when they attempted to touch them;
but a miller coming in, engaged their affections at once; his
powdered coat had charms that were irresistible. It is no
wTonder that my intimate acquaintance with these specimens
of the kind has taught me to hold the sportsman’s amusement
in abhorrence; he little knows what amiable creatures he
persecutes, of what gratitude they are capable, how cheerful
they are in their spirits, what enjoyment they have of life,
and that impressed as they seem with a peculiar dread of
man, it is only because man gives them peculiar cause for it.
That I may not be tedious, I will just give a short sum-
mary of those articles of diet that suit them best.
I take it to be a general opinion that they graze; but it is
an erroneous one ; at least grass is not their staple ; they
seem rather to use it medicinally, soon quitting it for leaves
of almost any kind. Sow-thistle, dent-de-lion, and lettuce,
are* their favourite vegetables, especially the last. I disco-
vered, by accident, that fine white sand is in great estimation
with them, I suppose as a digestive. It happened that I
was cleaning a birdcage while the hares were with me. I
placed a pot tilled with such sand upon the floor, which
being at once directed to by a strong instinct, they devoured
voraciously; since that time I have generally taken care to
see them well supplied with it. They account green corn a
delicacy, both blade and stalk, but the ear they seldom eat-.
kirby’s wonderful museum.
that among a thousand of them no two could be found ex-
actly similar; a circumstance little suspected by those who
have not had an opportunity to observe it. These creatures
have a singular’ sagacity in discovering the minutest alteration
that is made in the place to which they are accustomed, and
instantly apply their nose to the examination of a new object.
A small hole being burned in the carpet, it ■was mended with
a patch, and that patch in a moment underwent the strictest
scrutiny. They seem, too, to be very much directed by the
smell in the choice of their favourites : to some persons,
though they saw them daily, they could never be reconciled,
and would even scream when they attempted to touch them;
but a miller coming in, engaged their affections at once; his
powdered coat had charms that were irresistible. It is no
wTonder that my intimate acquaintance with these specimens
of the kind has taught me to hold the sportsman’s amusement
in abhorrence; he little knows what amiable creatures he
persecutes, of what gratitude they are capable, how cheerful
they are in their spirits, what enjoyment they have of life,
and that impressed as they seem with a peculiar dread of
man, it is only because man gives them peculiar cause for it.
That I may not be tedious, I will just give a short sum-
mary of those articles of diet that suit them best.
I take it to be a general opinion that they graze; but it is
an erroneous one ; at least grass is not their staple ; they
seem rather to use it medicinally, soon quitting it for leaves
of almost any kind. Sow-thistle, dent-de-lion, and lettuce,
are* their favourite vegetables, especially the last. I disco-
vered, by accident, that fine white sand is in great estimation
with them, I suppose as a digestive. It happened that I
was cleaning a birdcage while the hares were with me. I
placed a pot tilled with such sand upon the floor, which
being at once directed to by a strong instinct, they devoured
voraciously; since that time I have generally taken care to
see them well supplied with it. They account green corn a
delicacy, both blade and stalk, but the ear they seldom eat-.