THE RABBIT. 137 



Of the warrener we have seen the largest specmiens 

 in the Isle of Wight, where, in the lonely districts 

 around Alum Bay and Freshwater, these creatures 

 appear to enjoy an Eden of their own : their innu- 

 merable little heads and ears peeping forth from the 

 close, sw^art herbage, as thickly as kingcups in a 

 June meadow. The parker, as its name intimates, 

 frequents parky uplands and open enclosures ; the 

 hedgehog kind, like the hare, will take shelter under 

 the hedge-bushes, or short woods and plantations ; 

 and these two sorts make no burrow subterraneously, 

 but breed in the most convenient places of their 

 chosen locality. 



Some ancient authors have deemed the hare and 

 rabbit but varieties of one species, an error quickly 

 discovered by modern naturalists. In no instance 

 has a hybrid been discovered to breed : although a 

 variety of the rabbit has occurred, which at first led 

 some to suppose that it was a breed betw^een both 

 animals. The similarities of structure are certainly 

 great ; but the dissimilarities are equally so. The 

 variety we speak of was large, of the hare colour ; 

 bony and lengthy ; the flesh, also, was high-flavoured, 

 without the usual rabbit insipidity ; and it was said 

 to be, for we speak not after our own knowledge, 

 equal, or superior, to that of the leveret. 



The comities of England, in w4iich the rabbit 

 is most plentiful, are. Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Nor- 

 folk, and Lincolnshire, with the Isle of Wight; 

 sandy soils, it will be seen, are most favourable to 



