PHILOSOPHY OF LOVE 



get rid of his young, in order to stop suckling, and 

 have his female again. On the other hand, it is a 

 regular fact, that as soon as she has retaken the habit 

 of having the male, the mother rabbit, even if she is still 

 giving suck, at once ceases to recognize her offspring, 

 her brief ideas already turned toward her new, coming 

 family. Different causes may engender identical acts, 

 and different lines of reasoning bring the same con- 

 clusions. There is reasoning in this case of the rabbit; 

 there is no reasoning save in case 01 initial error, when 

 there is trouble in the intellect. This trouble and the 

 final massacre is all that one can state definitely: 

 the reasoning escapes our analysis. 



Is the rabbit really monogamous? Perhaps, with a 

 monogamy for the season, or from necessity. The 

 male, in any case pays no attention to the young, unless 

 it be to throttle them; thus the female as soon as she is 

 gravid, takes refuge in an isolated burrow. Their coup- 

 ling, which occurs especially toward evening, is re- 

 peated as often as five or six times an hour, the female 

 crouching in a particular manner; the break away is 

 very sudden, the male throwing himself back, sidewise 

 and uttering a short cry. What really makes one doubt 

 the monogamy of the rabbit is that one male is enough 

 for eight or ten females, that he is a great runner, 

 that the males have murderous fights among themselves. 

 Doubtless one must take each specie separately. Buf- 

 fon pretends that in a warren the oldest buck rabbits 

 have authority over the young. An observer of rabbit 

 habits, M. Mariot-Didieux, admits this trait of superior 

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