CHAPTER XVIII 



CONCLUDING REMARKS ABOUT RABBITS 



NEITHER Rabbits nor Cavies lend themselves very much to 

 affording materials for anecdotes, but the following short 

 article, which appeared in the Leisure Hour for September 

 last, may be interesting to some of my readers : 



U THE RABBIT IN AUSTRALIA 



" It is some 4000 years since the wise man drew atten- 

 tion to the energy and enterprise of the " conies," which, 

 though a feeble folk, had their dwelling in the rocks. 



" In Australia the coney, which we may freely translate 

 as the rabbit, has well sustained his reputation. 



" It is only about thirty years since the first pairs were 

 liberated in the State of Victoria, and yet already they 

 have spread to every State in the continent. 



" At first, the wire fences, which were erected between 

 Victoria and South Australia, were expected to check his 

 western march, while the Murray River was confidently 

 regarded as a bar to his progress north. 



" But he climbed over or burrowed under the former 



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