IMPROVEMENTS IN CANADA. gj 



and felting qualities of the fur. The nature of this animal Manners. 

 is to burrow deep in sandy ground, and there live in fami- 

 lies, nor will they suffer one from a neighbouring family to 

 come amongst them without a severe contest, in which the 

 intruders are generally glad to retire with the loss of part of 

 their coats, unless when pursued by an enemy, when they 

 find protection. 



It is scarcely worth while for me to mention a thing so Prolific, and 

 generally known, viz. that rabbits, particularly those of the ^ Sll y ex P°rt- 

 warren, are the most prolific of all other four-footed animals 

 jn the world; nor do 1 apprehend any difficulty would at- 

 tend the exporting this little quadruped with safety to any 

 distance, provided it was kept dry, and regularly supplied 

 with clean, sweet food, and a due regard to the cleanliness 

 of the boxes or places of confinement. 



•Twelve or fifteen pair oi* these valuable animals taken to Would soon'be- 

 Upper Canada, and theye enclosed within a small space of p^^w? y 

 ground suitable to their nature, but furnished with a few 

 artificial burrows at the first, by way of a nursery ; and 

 spread over those now useless plains, islands, and penin- 

 sulas, so well calculated to their nature; would, I will make 

 bold to say, the eighth year after their introduction, furnish 

 the British market with a valuable raw material, amounting 

 to a large sum, increasing every year with astonishing rar 

 pidity, so as to become, in a few years, one amongst the first 

 pf national objects. 



It may be supposed by some, that the above project isf 

 magnified beyond possibility, or even probability ; but the 

 serious attention I have paid to the subject, these many 

 years past, as to all points for and against, leaves me no 

 Toom to accuse myself of being too sanguine ; for if pro- 

 perly managed a few years at the first, I cannot find a single 

 thing likely to interrupt their progress. 



Some idea of the astonishing increase of the rabbit may j ncTeas< , ^ t 

 be had from the following facts: — pair in one 



An old doe rabbit will bring forth young nine times in ye5Mr# 

 one year, and from 4 to 10 each time; but to allow for ca- 

 sualties, state the number at 5 each litter. 



