132 RABBET. Class I. 



military force from the Romaiis, in the time of 

 Augustus, in order to extirpate them.* Their 

 native country is Spain, Avhere they were taken 

 as we do at present, by means of ferrets, which 

 animals were first introduced there out of 

 Afi'ica :-\ they love a temperate and a warm 

 climate, and are incapable of bearing great cold, 

 so that in SzvedenX they are obliged to be kept 

 in houses. Our country abounds with them; 

 Fur. their furs form a considerable article in the hat 

 manufactures, and of late, such part of the fur 

 as is unfit for that purpose, has been found as 

 good as feathers for stuffinfj; beds and bolsters. 

 Numbers of the skins are annually exported to 

 China. The English counties that are most 

 noted for these animals are Lincolnshire^ Nor- 

 folk, and Camhridgeshire. Methold, in the last 

 county, is famous for the best sort for the table; 

 the soil there is sandy, and full of mosses and 

 the carices. Rabbets swarm in the isles of 

 Orkney, where their skins form a considerable 

 article of commerce. Excepting otters, brown 

 rats, common mice, and shrews, no other quad- 

 rupeds are found there. The rabbets of those 

 isles are in general grey: those which inhabit the 

 hills, grow hoary in winter. 



* Tlhi. lib. viil. c. bb, f Straho, iii. 3,44-- 



1 Faun Suec, §0. 



