1 6 THE RABBIT 



Rabbits exist on the Saltee and Keragh Islands 

 off the coast of Wexford, and on the Island of 

 Inishtrahull, Co. Donegal ; but evidence is wanting to 

 show whether they are smaller, lighter in weight, or 

 darker in colour. This might be ascertained, and it 

 would be interesting also to obtain statistics on these 

 points from some of the western isles of Scotland ; for 

 instance, from the Isle of Handa, Sutherlandshire, 

 where rabbits are very abundant. 



Within certain limits, wild rabbits are subject to 

 some variation in colour, without any admixture from 

 tame stock. White, black, sandy, and silver-grey are 

 all well-known varieties, and although they cannot be 

 said to be common, several localities might be men- 

 tioned in which there is an unusual preponderance of 

 either white or black ones.^ White ones may be 

 seen any day in Bosworth Park, Leicester, and on the 

 estate of Mr. Joseph Lescher, of Boyles Court, Essex ; 

 and black ones occur sporadically in Cheshire, notably 

 in the large warrens of Lyme Park, and not infre- 

 quently in the coverts of Mr. Assheton Smith, of 

 Vaynol, North Wales. Dr. Laver, in his recently 

 published work on the mammalian fauna of Essex, 



1 See The Zoologist^ 1866, p. 385; and The Essex Naturalist, 

 vol. ii. p. 33, and vol. iii. p. 25. 



