THE RABBIT OR BURROWING HARE. 



Lepus Cuniculus. LINN. 



PLATE XXXII. 



Ears about a fourth shorter than the head, with a black- 

 ish tip ; upper parts brownish-grey, mixed with yellowisJi* 

 red ; throat and lower parts white ; tail extremely short, 

 black or brown above, white beneath. 



Lepus Cuniculus. Linn. Syst. Nat. I. 72 ; Desmar. Mammal. 

 348; Jenyns, Brit. Vert. Anhn. 35; Bell, Brit. Quadr. 

 348. 



THE Rabbit is the smallest British species of the 

 Hare genus. It differs from the rest in having the 

 limbs proportionally shorter, and in betaking itself 

 to subterraneous retreats, which it digs for itself in 

 the soil. Common as this animal is in most parts 

 of the country, the distinctive characters given to 

 it in our most recent works are erroneous. Thus, 

 the ears are said to be as long as the head, whereas 

 they are an inch shorter; they are represented as 

 having no black spot at the tip, which is true only 

 in so far as the black colour there is expanded over 



