216 BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 



shire, contemplating the remains of that fabric, which 

 once imprisoned the Queen of Scots. On the slope 

 of the Castle-hill facing me, I observed a rabbit sitting 

 by its burrow. Suddenly, from a bush, at some dis- 

 tance, issued a large weazel, and darting on with the 

 rapidity of an arrow, attempted to make its way into 

 the burrow, in which, no doubt, were the rabbit's 

 young ones. The rabbit, with an air of the utmost 

 coolness, raising itself as the weazel approached, re- 

 ceived him with several smart thumps upon the head. 

 He fled back, but speedily renewed the attack, and 

 was received in the same style. The assault, battery, 

 and retreat were maintained for at least a quarter of an 

 hour, when the weazel crawled away, apparently ex- 

 hausted, and appeared no more. Such is the valour 

 infused by parental instinct into the most weak and 

 timid creatures." 



The rabbit is valued as an article of food, and also 

 for its fur. For the sake of its covering, multitudes 

 of rabbits are bred in various parts of Europe, and 

 from these our country is supplied, as well as from 

 its own produce. In a domestic state these animals 

 lose, in some degree, their instinct of burrowing; yet 

 if several are kept together in a convenient place* 

 they will show that it is not altogether extinct. In 



