RABBITS. 1-27 



to contribute to the fund of their ftxniily, or to sell 

 them. 



The material difference between the hare and rab- 

 l)it is, that the former usually takes a wide range for 

 his food, whilst the latter is local, and excepting when 

 asleep, is actively employed, both with his feet and 

 teeth, in burrowing in hedgerows and other elevated 

 grounds, and at times doing considerable mischief to the 

 drainage, and the barking of trees in the woods. The 

 rabbit is an animal that cannot bear the extreme of 

 cold, therefore, in the northern parts of Europe, in 

 Sweden, Poland, and Eussia, they are kept in hutches, 

 or barges, and fattened for the table. The Germans 

 have a great dislike to the flesh of this animal ; they 

 consider it tasteless and insipid, and although I have 

 lived several years in Germany, I never recollect seeing 

 a rabbit brought to the table-d'hote. In the western 

 parts of Europe, rabbits generally abound, and there is 

 certainly no scarcity of them in the United Kingdom, 

 which is fully proved by the vast numbers killed at 

 some of the battues. In many parts of England, 

 particularly in Lincolnshire, Xorfolk, Suffolk and Cam- 

 bridgeshire, where large tracts of the land are sandy, 

 they are very numerous, and the proprietors of war- 

 rens in these parts of England derive a considerable 

 annual profit from the immense numbers sent for the 

 supply of the London market. In Yorkshire there are 

 also many w^arreus, from which York and other consi- 

 derable towns of the vicinity are supplied with rabbits, 

 and the skins sold to furriers, who furnish the hat manu- 

 factories with their fur. There are also some rabbit 

 warrens in the west of Ireland, belonging to the Marquis 

 of Coningham and M'Connolly and others in the neigh- 



