THE PSYCHIC DEVELOPMENT OF YOUNG ANIMALS 273 



must be made in any general statement for individual 

 and breed differences. 



III.- THE EABBIT. 



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, etc. 



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 

 cat. The rabbit's cortex is inexcitable till about the 

 period of the opening of the eyes, on the 9th to 



