TUE RABBIT. 27 



As is the case with most animals, the Kahbit seeks a quiet 

 and retired spot for her little nursery. She does not produce her 

 young in any of the burrows to which the general Kabbit colony 

 has access, but prepares an isolated tunnel, at the end of which she 

 forms her nest. The bed on which the young recline is beauti- 

 fully soft and fine, being composed chiefly of the downy fur 

 which grows on the mother's breast, and which she plucks off 

 with her teeth in tufts of considerable size, Any one who keeps 

 tame Eabbits may see the female preparing her cradle with this 

 soft fur, and note how perseveringly she denudes her breast of 

 its covering. 



Much stress has been laid on the self-sacrifice exhibited by the 

 animal, but I cannot believe that there is any sacrifice in the 

 case. We know that if we were to pull out handfuls of our 

 hair, we should suffer exceeding pain, and should, moreover, 

 feel very uncomfortable for want of the loSks ■which we had 

 torn away. But the case of the Eabbit has no real analogy with 

 such a proceeding, for the fur of the animal is at that time so 

 loosely attached to the skin that it falls off as easily as the hairs 

 of a cat in summer, and its evulsion produces no such disastrous 

 effects as would follow the forcible plucking out of human hair. 

 No raw and bleeding surface is seen when the fur of the Eabbit 

 is removed, and scarcely a sign of inflammation is visible upon 

 the skin. The act is a purely instinctive one, involving no more 

 self-sacrifice than is occasioned by any other instinctive act ; 

 and perhaps we should not be very far wrong if we were to say 

 that the animal would experience more seK-sacrifice in omitting 

 than in committing the act in question. 



The incubation of the eider duck presents similar features, 

 the parent birds stripping themselves of their down in order to 

 form a warm bed for their young. Yet, I do not think that 

 there is any self-sacrifice in the case, and fully believe that the 

 creature experiences a feeling of gratification rather than of 

 inconvenience, when it plucks away the down and arranges it 

 for the reception of the eggs. And, even if we grant that the 

 Eabbit or eider duck did find that they were less comfortable 

 after they had denuded themselves than before, and moreover that 

 they knew beforehand what would be the effect of the operation, 

 we are met by the fact that they are obeying an impulse which 

 they cannot resist, and that the idea of self-sacrifice is therefore 



