NATURAL HISTORY. 219 



quit them : they never stir abroad, unless forced by 

 necessity, and they return immediately. At this sea- 

 son they e<it much and very quickly ; and thus they 

 tend and suckle their young above six weeks. Till 

 after this period, the buck does not make his advances 

 to the doe. Often, even when she quits the burrow 

 and leaves her young behind, she stops up the entry 

 to it with earth, diluted M-ith her urine; but when 

 they begin to venture to the edge of the hole, and to 

 eat groundsel and other herbs which the doe picks out 

 for them, the buck begins to take them between his 

 paws, to endeavour to give a gloss to their hair, to 

 lick their eyes ; and all of them, in their turn, partake 

 equally of his care. 



A gentleman in my neighbourhood, who had amus- 

 ed himself with raising rabbits for many years, has 

 "favoured me with the following remarks: 



" I began," said he, " with only one male and one 

 female, the former white, the latter grey ; and of their 

 produce, which was very numerous, the greatest part 

 were grey, a good number of them white, and of a 

 mixed colour, and some few black. These animals 

 seem to have a great respect for paternal authority ; at 

 least I judged so, from the great deference which all my 

 rabbits she wed for their first ancestor, whom I can al- 

 ways easily distinguish by his whiteness, and who is in- 

 deed the only male of that colour which I have pre- 

 served. It was to no purpose the family increased. 

 Those which in their turn became fathers, were still 

 subordinate to him. Whenever they fought, whether 

 on account of their females, or concerning their food, 

 their great progenitor would run to the place of dis- 

 pute with all speed, as soon as he heard the noise. 

 No sooner did they perceive him, than every thing 



