503 



F A R JVl E U S' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



through every shade, Irom raven black, to the 

 whiteness of mountain snow. 



They begin to breed at a year old, sometimes 

 sooner; an(l multiply five, six and seven times 

 a year, having li-om four to eight at a litter, tluis 

 increasing so rapidly, tliat lo say that "she 

 breeds hke a rabbit, "■ is to express, proverbially, 

 the idea ol'great fecundity. 



When the buck approaches the doe, he first beats 

 and f3tamps very hard with his feet, and after 

 embraciniT lier, Hills backwards and lies motion- 

 less, as it were in a trance ; in this state he may 

 be readil}' taken, hut he soon recovers from it. 

 The extent of rabbit warrens in England, where, 

 in some districts, many hundred acres in a body 

 are appropriated to the raising of rabbits fir 

 sale, would appear surprising to those who bad 

 never adverted to the subject. As inr|uiries 

 have been made by correspondents relative to 

 the proper construction of rabbit warrens, and 

 iheir management, we give sketches from Eiig- 

 lish authorities, which follow the interestiuir and 

 curious remarks of Mr. Hardin, on the habits of 

 that animal.— [Ed. Am. Far. 



To the Editor of the American Farmer. 



Near Shelbyville, Ky., 6th March, 1824. 



Dear Sir — When we become subscribers to 

 the American Farmer, I consider it a tacit ad- 

 mission, that we belong lo the same social com- 

 pact, and that our general experience is a kind of 

 common property, upon which you have a right 

 to draw whenever you may think it beneficial to 

 its members. 



And should any speculative theory appear in 

 your columns, it is then either of us (whose expe- 

 rience conflicts with such theory) is substantially 

 called on to contribute bis mite. Under this im- 

 pression (and noi li-om a spirit of contradiction I 

 assure you, sir,) do I give you some of the habits 

 of the rabbit ; which at once overturns the theory 

 of Doctor Macaulay, in your 40th No. of Vol. 5, 

 wherein he concludes that "the male rabbit de- 

 -' stroys the young, for the sole purpose of enticing 

 *' the embraces of the mother. " 



While I resided in Frankfort, 1 procured the 

 white, the Itlack, the jrray, and the blue rabbits, 

 and after a li^w years, some of iheofTspring turned 

 out entirely yellow, or c,opperas-colored. As they 

 were a rarity wiih us, I was not inattentive to 

 their habiis, and all that I relate of them is from 

 personal observation. From the entire level of my 

 lot, there was no bank, or hill side (or them to 

 burrow in, ol course iheir cells were fi-equently 

 deluged by rains, and their young drowned ; to 

 protect them from this casualty, I frecjuently duo' 

 down to the extremity of the hole, and fixed an 

 inverted box over the place, so that the young 

 might be i)laced in the box during hard rains. 1 

 castrated mOst of the males when youno-, so that 

 at all seasons of the year, they we're fit^for table 

 use: to distinauish the stags, I always split one of 

 their ears, so I hat I might not be mistaken in catch- 

 ing them. Although I have never had a hun- 

 dred at a time, yet I have had upwards of ninety. 

 Like all domestic animals, they may be taught to 

 ■come to food by any particular sound — I chose a 

 a peculiar kind of whistle between the hands, and 

 by shelling corn around me, could take by the ears 

 any one of them without disturbing the rest. 1 

 would advise a southern hill side for a warren, and 



the only way I could prevent their burrowing out, 

 was to place a row of bricks, laying them flat with 

 their ends against the wall, and sunk only level 

 with the surface, so as lo form a nine inch pave- 

 tnent all around the warren ; the rabbit will com- 

 mence immediately at the waM to burrow out, the 

 brick pavement prevents it. Some It3w days be- 

 fore parturition, the Icmale burrows her hole from 

 .''our to six or eiirht feet, and carries grass, hay, or 

 whatever litter is most convenient, and forms her 

 bed ; she then closes the mouth of the hole by re- 

 turning to it part of the dirt, ami pressing it down 

 wiih her lore feet, so as to leave no appearance of 

 the hole. Just before parturition, she opens the 

 hole and lines this bed with her own fur, and im- 

 mediately after parturition she comes out, securely 

 covers the hole, and runs in search of ilie buck, 

 and in less than ten minutes receives a new im- 

 pregnation. She does not visit lier young but 

 once in twenty-lbur hours, unless it is in the night, 

 which I do not believe. I have seen them o|)en 

 the hole, go in, and uniformly in two minutes by 

 the watch return, close the hole securely and leave 

 it. I have then, by removing the box and examin- 

 ing the young, found them quite full. In about 

 three weeks she leaves a small opening at the 

 mouth of the hole, the young then occasionally 

 con)e out, in a few days more she closes the hole 

 when then are out, and when they are thirty days 

 old she has a new litter. When I have wanted 

 to use the young (or broiling, I have at the time of 

 parturition, and (iar some time alter, kept the mo- 

 ther secluded from the buck, so that she might 

 suckle them a few weeks longer. If these state- 

 ments be true. Doctor Macaulay's supposition is 

 wi.hout foundation. So much for facts, take my 

 conclusions for what they are worth — my own 

 conclusion has been, and still is, that at parturi- 

 tion, the mother leaves with the bed o(^ young 

 exactly the kind ol' odor, which accompanies her 

 lo the buck, after the first caresses she plays the 

 coquet and hides from him ; in his search for her, 

 if he comes to the bed of young, (lo which he is 

 guided by the scent, unless they are very secure) 

 he scratches them to pieces, not from motives of 

 destruction to them, but to drive the doe (which 

 he believes there hid) (i-om her lurking place. 



This too may be speculative theory, and I can 

 have no objection to its being put down by one 

 more plausible, tested by experience, and carrying 

 with it more of the rational. 



Respectfully, yours, 



Mark Hardin. 



P. S. You may think strange that I have gone 

 so much into detail. This is my apology — long 

 since some of your subscribers called for informa- 

 tion respecting warrens, and I have never seen an 

 answer to it, of course if lie is not better supplied, 

 what I have said is intended for his benefit. 



M. H. 



" The food of the tame rabbits may be cole 

 wort and cabbage leaves, carrots, parsnips, ap- 

 ple rinds, green corn, and vetches, in the time of 

 the year; also vine leaves, grass, fruits, oats, and 

 oatmeal, milk-thistles, sow-thistles, and the like; 

 but with these moist foods (hey must always have 

 a proportionable quantity of the dry foods, as hay, 

 bread, oats, bran, and the like, otherwise they 

 will grow pot-bellied and die. Bran and grains 

 mixed together have been also found to be very 

 good food. In winter they will eat hay, oats, and 



