Excerpt from Watership Down by Richard Adams.

Many human beings

say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it. For them there is no winter food problem. They have fires and warm clothes. The winter cannot hurt them... For birds and animals, as for poor men, winter is another matter. Rabbits, like most wild animals, suffer hardship... food of a sort is nearly always to be had. But under snow they may stay underground for days at a time, feeding only by chewing pellets. They are more subject to disease in winter and the cold lowers their vitality. Nevertheless, burrows can be snug and warm... underground, there are stories to be told and games to be played... For rabbits, winter remains what it was for men in the middle ages – hard, but bearable...