1. Harry and Dora were coming home with their mother from a long walk, when they saw some rabbits playing about on the grass.

2. They wished to stay and watch them, and the three sat down on a log a little way off.

'Oh, look at that one going into a hole!' said Dora. 'See his funny tail. Why is he going into a hole?'

3. 'That is his house,' said their mother. 'I daresay he is sleepy and wants to go to bed.'

'He goes early, then, like the birds?'

'Yes, about sunset. He gets up a little before sunrise.

4. 'There goes another! They will soon all be gone.'

'Then we can look at their houses?'

'Only at their front doors. If you were to sit quite still over there in the day-time, you would see the rabbits popping in and out.

5. 'After a time they would find out that you were their friends, and then you would be able to watch their doings.'

6. Then mother told them more about the man who often stayed out all night to see what animals did. 'One morning, before it was quite light, he heard a tap-tap near him, and saw a rabbit beating on the ground with his hind-feet close to another rabbit's hole.

7. 'He saw him go to another hole and tap there, and then to another. Some holes he passed and did not knock at all.

'At last he had just begun tap-tapping in front of a hole, when out rushed a big rabbit. They began to fight, and they both rolled down to the bottom of the hill.

8. 'The man often saw rabbits tapping like this. Sometimes two or three would come out to speak to the one that tapped, and they seemed to have a friendly chat.

9. 'There was another sound they could make with their hind-feet. If one of them made it, the others would run into their holes as fast as they could. It meant danger.'

'What was it like?' asked Dora.

'Tap-pat.'