172 ANIMALS OF THE 



five at a time ; and this not without pain. But 

 what is very extraordinary, the female admits the 

 male the very day she has brought forth, and be- 

 comes again pregnant ; so that their multiplica- 

 tion is astonishing. She suckles her young but 

 about twelve or fifteen days ; and during that time 

 does not seem to know her own ; for if the young 

 of any other be brought, though much older, she 

 never drives them away, but suffers them even to 

 drain her, to the disadvantage of her own imme- 

 diate offspring. They are produced with the eyes 

 open, like all others of the hare kind ; and, in 

 about twelve hours, equal even to the dam in agi- 

 lity. Although the dam has but two teats, yet 

 she abundantly supplies them with milk ; and they 

 are also capable of feeding upon vegetables al- 

 most from the very beginning. If the young ones 

 are permitted to continue together, the stronger, 

 as in all other societies, soon begins to govern the 

 weak. Their contentions are often long and ob- 

 stinate, and their jealousies very apparent. Their 

 disputes are usually for the warmest place, or the 

 most agreeable food. If one of them happens to 

 be more fortunate in this respect than the rest, 

 the strongest generally comes to dispossess it of 

 its advantageous situation. Their manner of 

 fighting, though terrible to them, is ridiculous 

 enough to a spectator. One of them seizes the 

 hair on the nape of the other's neck with its fore- 

 teeth, and attempts to tear it away; the other, 

 to retaliate, turns its hinder parts to the enemy, 

 and kicks up behind like a horse, and with its hin- 

 der claws scratches the sides of its adversary ; so 



