TBX ni'BBIT. 



nut a single one of the jjrogeny whs to be sewi. Some Utile 

 blood and a mangled leg told tiieir history ; and the ainmal a 

 lortnight ailer was again put to the buck. I by chance ais- 

 covered while the doe was breeding that she had an inordinate 

 thirst. At first it amused me to see the creature lap the water 

 1 presented to her ; but at last I placed within her hutch a cnp, 

 and had it constantly filled. Her desire for liquid was not 

 easily quenched, and it became to me a source of some pain 

 when I reflected how much agony the craving must have caused 

 prior to my being conscious of its existence. The next litter, 

 however, was not eaten by the mother. She brought them up, 

 and they likewise did well, drinking as much as they pleasefl. 

 The disposition of the doe appeared to undergo a complete 

 change : from having been savage, that is, from always endea- 

 vouring to bite and scratch the hand that cleaned her residence, 

 or even supplied her table, she became gentle and familiar, 

 allowing herself to be caressed and her progeny to be inspected. 

 She was at last as good an she was beautiftd, and I pai-ted 

 with her for a sum exactly four times that which she had 

 cost me." 



Another instance is related of a doe rabbit w1in had a. litter 

 of seven young ones a week old. " It was high summer time, 

 sjid the hutch stood in such a position that the noonday sun 

 olazed full on the roof of it. The proprietor of the hutch and 

 Its contents happening to come into the garden, peeped in at a 

 cliinK at the back of the hutch, and there saw the poor doe 

 with her tongue protruding from her mouth hurrying to and 

 iro. while her little ones lay huddled in a comer. Now she 

 would pause and lick the iron lattice-work forming the door, 

 and then look abqut her with a bewildered air as though pain- 

 fully at a loss for something not in sight. The watcher noticed 

 that instead of caressing and lying close to the little onesi sJ^e 

 seemed to get as far from them as possible. Presently, how- 

 ever, she turned suddenly round and eyed the corner where her 

 babies were in a most ferocious manner, at the same time paw- 

 ing the floor with her fore feet, as angry rabbits will. The 

 animal's appearance — its rolling tongue and flashing eyes — all 

 at once made it apparent to the rabbit-keeper that the poor 

 creature was enduring the agony of thirst, and he at once hui- 

 ried into the house and fetched a basin of water. When he 

 again approached the hutch, however, he was horrified to sea 

 the doe in the very act of tearing one of her progeny to pieces. 

 As soon, however, as the water was placed within her reauh 



