LEAVES FROM MY NOTE-BOOK. 47 



numbers from want of food. The Cariboo (the Canadian Rein- 

 deer) flock to the shelter of the woods during the long winters of 

 the Great North-West, and in the summer go to the shores of the 

 Arctic Ocean in search of their favourite lichen, the " Iceland 

 Moss " ; and doubtless this instinct has enabled them to survive 

 the extraordinary severe climatic conditions of this region. 



Rabbits. 



I will next give the account of the modifications, through the 

 action of the fresh environments, of certain rabbits which were 

 set loose on the Island of Porto Santo, near Madeira, in 141 8, by 

 J. Gonzales Zarco. Happening to have a female rabbit on board 

 which had [)roduced young during the voyage, he turned them all 

 out on the island. The animals increased so rapidly that they 

 actually caused the abandonment of the settlement. Thirty-seven 

 years after, Cada Mosto described them as innumerable ; nor is 

 this surprising, as the island was not inhabited by any beast of 

 prey, nor by any terrestrial mammal. At present, Porto Santo 

 rabbits differ conspicuously from European wild rabbits both in 

 colour and size. Whilst four wild English rabbits averaged 3 lbs. 

 5 ozs., one of the Porto Santo rabbits weighed only i lb 9 ozs. 

 They have decreased nearly three inches in length and almost half 

 in weight of body ; whilst in the Zoological Gardens they had a 

 remarkably different appearance to the common kind ; they were 

 extraordinarily wild and active, and many persons exclaimed on 

 seeing them that they were more like large rats than rabbits. They 

 were nocturnal to an unusual degree in their habits, and their 

 wildness was never in the least subdued ; so that Mr. Bartlett, the 

 superintendent of the Zoo, declared that he had never had a wilder 

 animal under his charge. This is a singular fact, considering that 

 these rabbits must have descended from a domesticated breed. 



On enquiry as to whether these animals had been much hunted 

 by the inhabitants, or persecuted by hawks, or cats, etc., it appeared 

 this was not the case, and that no cause could be assigned for 

 their wildness. They live both on the central, higher rocky land, 

 and near the sea cliffs, and being exceedingly timid, seldom appear 

 in the lower and cultivated districts. 



From numerous experiments carried on since Animals and 



