176 GRAY RABBIT. 



species in a state of confinement, and ha\dng also examined many speci- 

 mens at all seasons of the year, we have arrived at the opposite conclu- 

 sion as far as regards the Gray Rabbit. In autumn, the gi-eater portion, if 

 not all, the summer fur drops off' in spots, and is gradually replaced by 

 the winter coat. In this state, as there are shades of difference between 

 the summer and winter colours, the animal presents a somewhat singular 

 appearance, exhibiting at the same time, (as in the Northern hare, al- 

 though far less conspicuously,) patches of different colours. The Gray 

 Rabbit, although it breeds freely in enclosed warrens, seldom becomes 

 tame, and will probably never be domesticated. When captive, it seems 

 to be constantly engaged in trying to find some means of escape, and 

 though it digs no burrows in a state of nature, yet, when confined, it is 

 capable of digging to the depth of a foot or more under a wall, in order 

 to effect its object. We, however, at the house of Dr. De Benneville at 

 Milcstown, near Philadelphia, saw five or six that were taken from the 

 nest when very young and brought up by hand, so completely tamed 

 that they came at the call and leapt on to the lap of their feeder ; they 

 lived sociably and without restraint in the yard, among the dogs and 

 poultry. The former, although accustomed to chase the wild rabbit, ne- 

 ver molesting those which had, in this manner, grown up with them, and 

 now made a part of the motley tenants of the poultry-yard. We have 

 not only observed dogs peacefully associating with the hare when thus 

 tamed ; but have seen hounds, accustomed to the chase of the deer, eat- 

 ing from the same platter with one of those animals that was domesti- 

 cated and loose in the yard, refraining from molesting it, and even de- 

 fending it from the attacks of strangers of their own species, that hap- 

 pened to come into the premises ; and when this tame deer, which occa- 

 sionally visited the woods, was started by the pack of hounds here re- 

 ferred to, they refused to pursue it. 



The Gray Rabbit is one of the most prolific of all our species of this 

 genus ; in the Northern States it produces young about three times in the 

 season, from five to seven at a litter, whilst in Carolina, its young are 

 frequently brought forth as early as the twentieth of February, and as 

 late as the middle of October, and in all the intermediate months. Na- 

 ture seems thus to have made a ■wise provision for the preservation of the 

 species, since no animal is more defenceless or possesses more numerous 

 enemies. Although it can run with considerable swiftness for some dis- 

 tance, its strength in a short time is exhausted, and an active dog would 

 soon overtake it if it did not take shelter in some hole in the earth, heap 

 of logs, or stones, or in a tree with a hollow near its root ; in these re- 

 treats it is often captured by young hunters. 



