188 LEPORID^— ORYCTOLAGUS 



bee deemed a good house keeper that hath not plenty of these at all 

 times to furnish his table." 



There is no need to trace the animal's history further, since in its 

 double capacity of provider -of food and fur it remained in high value 

 until recent years. At the end of the eighteenth century, Marshall 

 {Rural Economy of Yorkshire, ed. 2, 1796, vol. ii., 226-228) calculated 

 the value of the skin in proportion to that of the carcase as higher 

 than that of a sheep or ox. But of recent years so many carcases and 

 skins have been imported into Britain, especially from Australia, that 

 the value has greatly declined, and it is doubtful if rabbits are any 

 longer a source of profit to landowners, unless, perhaps, under somewhat 

 exceptional circumstances and management. 



The Rabbit, as shown by the passages quoted above on pages 179 

 and 184 from The Master of Game and from du Fouilloux, was never 

 accounted of any honour or value by British or northern French 

 sportsmen, nor was it deemed worthy of their attention until the days 

 of fire-arms ; and, as shown above (p. 187), it is only mentioned incident- 

 ally in The Master of Game. This is worth notice, because the great 

 French sportsman, Gaston de Foix, of whose masterpiece, Livre de 

 Chasse (commenced 1st May 1387), the English work by " Master of 

 Game" is mainly a translation, admits it to a place in the list of 

 fourteen animals, which he describes for the benefit of sportsmen. 



In Scotland, according to Alston, the Rabbit was little known before 



the beginning of the nineteenth century, even in many lowland localities 



where it now abounds ; up to that date it appears to have been confined 



mainly to certain islands and to the coastal sand-dunes of the mainland. 



But William Evans has shown that it was abundant in portions of 



the Edinburgh district at least as far back as the early part of the 



sixteenth century ; and he suggests that it was introduced by the 



inmates of the various monasteries. Its numbers probably remained 



nearly stationary, or, more probably, its range was more or less 



restricted, until the early part of the nineteenth century, after 



which it began to occupy new country, and underwent a rapid 



increase in numbers. Similarly in Aberdeen, according to Sim, 



it is mentioned in documents as evidently common at least so 



far back as the year 1424; and the same authority states that in the 



Exchequer Rolls a duty of is. a hundred was charged on cony skins 



during the fourteenth century ; but the latter record is not altogether 



trustworthy, as in enactments concerning duties items are sometimes 



copied from foreign documents. 



There is evidence that in many other parts of Scotland, especi- 

 ally in the Highlands, the animal did not make its appearance 

 until as the result of comparatively recent introductions ; and in the 

 north, as in Sutherland, many perish in severe winters (Harvie-Brown 



