GNAWING ANIMALS RODENTS 153 



the cheeks being covered with hair within the mouth 

 as well as without. 



The rabbit differs from the hare in having shorter 

 ears and legs. It lives in burrows of its own making, 

 and its young are born naked and blind, while the 

 offspring of the hare are born covered with hair, in 

 the " form " or customary resting-place of the mother. 

 Their eyes are open and they are very soon able to 

 run about. 



There are certain anatomical details also in which 

 these rodents differ, especially in the structure of the 

 skull and of the crecum or large intestine. 



The rabbit {Lepiis cuiiicultis), it is believed, was 

 introduced by man at some remote period into 

 Britain. Its native home is the Spanish Peninsula, 

 the south of France, and some of the Mediterranean 

 islands. It is now widely distributed in England, 

 Ireland, and Scotland ; and though in many places 

 rabbits are regarded as troublesome vermin, their 

 introduction to this country has not proved so dis- 

 astrous as their importation into Australia and New 

 Zealand. 



Rabbits are social creatures, living in communities, 

 while the hare is a solitary animal. They increase 

 with enormous rapidity. Each litter, of which 

 there are often as many as six in a year, numbers 

 five to eight young ones, and they begin to breed 

 when six or eight months old. Before the young are 

 born the mother leaves the home burrow, and, often 

 travelling some distance from it, she scratches out a 

 fresh one, at the end of which she makes a hollow to 

 form the nest, which she lines with fur from her own 



