374 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



THE RABBIT. 

 (Lepus Cuniculus, Linn. Le Lapin y Buff.) 



NOTWITHSTANDING the great similarity between 

 the Hare and the Rabbit, Nature has placed an in- 

 separable bar between them, in not allowing them 

 to intermix, to which they mutually discover the 

 most extreme aversion. Besides this, their is a 

 wide difference in their habits and propensities : 

 the Rabbit lives in holes in the earth, where it 

 brings forth its young, and retires from the ap- 

 proach of danger; whilst the Hare prefers the 

 open fields, and trusts to its speed for safety. 



The*fecundity of the Rabbit is truly astonishing. 

 It breeds seven times in the year, and generally 

 produces eight young at a time ; from which it is 

 calculated, that one pair may increase, in the course 

 of four years, to the amazing number of 1,274,840: 

 so that, if frequent reductions were not made in 

 various ways, there is reason to apprehend they 

 would soon exceed the means of their support, and 



