96 WILD MFK IN .NEW ZEALAND. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



RODENTIA RABBITS. 



EVERYBODY ill New Zealand knows something about rabbits; a L 

 many know a good deal about their habits, their value for fur and 

 for gastronomic purposes, and their destruetiveness ; but verv few 

 know about the history of their introduction. 



Probably every one knows that the rabbit (L< />//.< rmiicnlim) is 

 a burrowing-aninial, which thrives particularly in more or less dry 

 regions. A wet climate does not suit it, and although there are 

 regions in New Zealand where rabbits are to be met with but only 

 rarely, yet. as a general rule, they are particularly abundant where 

 there is a limited annual rainfall. They increase at a great rate, 

 the female producing several litters of voung in a season, and 

 commencing to breed when about six months old. The voung are 

 born blind and naked, and are housed by the mother in a warm 

 nest which is lined with fur pulled from her own body. 



Rabbits have long been domesticated, and several well-marked 

 breeds have been developed. For example, in the "lop-eared/ 1 the 

 are large flaps pendent on each side of the head, and often 

 touching the ground. They a re of many colours white, black, 

 luown. and fawn sometimes of one nearly uniform hue. but more 

 often mixed. It is clear that many of our New Zealand wild 

 rabbits are descended from tame ones, for they still retain their 

 mixed colours. Albinos, with white fur and pink eves, form a 

 distinct variety by themselves, and breed true. The Angora rabbits 

 hav.' long fur. and are nearly always albinos. 



The introduction of the rabbit into New Zealand has produced 

 -ueli far-reaching effects and wrought such changes throughout the 

 country that it requires more than the sober lanuuaL'. of the 

 naturalist to describ them. One tliim: is .|uiie certain namely, 

 that the animal WM deliberately- introduced info the country not 

 bv one individual, but by numbers of persons, and by several 



acclimatization societies. Hut no one \\ill accept the blame for 



