A Black Rabbit The afternoon was a quiet one and
I stood on the hillside on a patch of ground where it was apparent a large number of foxgloves grow. A little ahead there was a belt of bracken behind a mound topped by a drunken fence. As I stood looking at the sunlight on the .bracken", I saw something move. At first I took it to be a cat, but its movements were not those of a hunting cat, and when it came out on to the fence mound I saw
that it was a black rabbit. There is something fascinating about melanistic ' creatures. The other day I saw a melanistic pheasant on the poulterer's slab. It was a fine shade of dark bottle green and it seemed a pity that anyone had shot it, although against a wintry sky any pheasant can look dark. I did not shoot the black rabbit, but I admired it as I have often admired its kind before. Its ears were a rich sooty brown and the patch at the back of the neck was a ruddy colour. On the same hillside I have often 'seen rabbits of a light grey shade and it is possible that the intensive breeding that takes place produces a number of freaks and mutations.
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