THE PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ANIMALS 273 
must be made in any general statement for individual 
and breed differences. 
IIlI.—TuHE RABBIT. 
SUCH a creature as the rabbit contrasts in the most 
marked manner with the dog and the cat. 
A rabbit to the last is much more a creature of 
instincts and reflexes pure and simple, with relatively 
but little intelligence, all of which is in harmony with 
its simple modes of existence. Its food is in the wild 
state usually abundant, and as its escape from enemies 
is accomplished by swiftness in flight, or by taking 
refuge in its burrow, there is little in its environment to 
develop intelligence. With the Carnivora it is quite 
otherwise. They obtain their food by cunning, stealth, 
stratagem—it may be concerted action, as in the case 
of wolves, hyenas, wild dogs, ete. 
The ease with which reflex actions are excited on the 
very first day of existence in the rabbit is striking, and 
remains a very distinct peculiarity; and on the same 
day the paws were used to wipe away an offending 
substance placed in the mouth. On the 3rd day 
scratching of a surface was observed, an act which has 
no small part in the burrowing life of rabbits. By the 
15th day they eat, and from this date onwards they 
progress rapidly to perfection of reflex and voluntary 
action, The early and rapid development of chewing 
or eating movements, soon associated with the use of 
the paws to hold food, contrasts in the most decided 
way with the slowness of the development of good 
eating movements in the dog, and still more so in the 
eat. The rabbit’s cortex is inexcitable till about the 
period of the opening of the eyes, on the 9th to 
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