THE RABBIT OR CONY 191 



Shrew. And this statement must not be taken to imply any inferiority. 

 When the greater size of the Rabbit and its absolute defencelessness 

 are taken into consideration, it is probable that it is, at least relatively 

 speaking, more successful. Seven thousand have been killed by a single 

 party in the course of one day's shooting (Millais). Simpson {pp. cit. 

 infra), a prominent breeder of wild ones, has put the number that can, 

 given skilful management, be carried continuously on an acre of land as 

 about one hundred ; and a single London furrier is said to have 

 accumulated ten tons weight of the tails alone in a single season 

 (Patterson, Eastern Norfolk, 318). On this account it well deserves the 

 title given to it by Poland, as " the great fur-producing animal of the 

 kingdom," and foreigners travelling through Britain notice its abundance 

 as one of the characteristic features of the fauna, a feature which 

 appears to have been already evident in the sixteenth century (see 

 Gesner's remarks quoted above on pp. 184 and 187). 



The fur is used chiefly for felting, or hats ; and is also dyed or 

 clipped, and sold in imitation of the pelts of other more valuable animals, 

 such as fur seal. Its cheapness makes its use almost universal, but it 

 has little durability (see Poland, 278-289). 



Although it thrives best on dry but rich pastures, the Rabbit may be 

 expected wherever a blade of grass can grow ; and from Cornwall to 

 Caithness it holds its own in the face of the most relentless persecution, 

 at the hands not only of man but of all stronger animals. It plants its 

 colonies on almost inaccessible turfy ledges on the sides of sea cliffs 

 and precipices. It ekes out a living even on poor lands ; and soon 

 reduces them to such a condition that larger grazing beasts would 

 starve. Then, when overcrowding results in an epidemic, it dies away 

 to scarcity, but a remnant is always left to reappear with renewed 

 vigour and fertility until the former abundance is regained. If it 

 objects to anything it is to cold and wet, but the objection is only 

 relative, since it abounds in the continuous heavy rains of the Mull 

 winters, and its mortality in that island is said to be far less than that 

 of sheep (Simpson, The Wild Rabbit in a New Aspect, 1908, 22-23). 

 Although checked by hard w^eather and heavy snowfalls, a few ascend 

 to the cairns on the summits of the highest mountains even of Scotland ; 

 and in summer numbers thrive mightily on low-lying marshes, salt or 

 fresh, entirely reckless of the disaster which usually overtakes them in 

 winter. It loves cultivated fields and sheltered woodlands, where it 

 grows fat and heavy on luxurious diet. But, albeit leaner and lighter 

 in such a situation, it finds the barren windswept sand-dunes, perhaps 

 because of their good drainage, a satisfactory habitat ; and manages to 

 maintain a thick population on some tiny stack or islet, where it 

 contends with puffins and shearwaters for the possession of the burrows. 



There is hardly an islet on which it is not established, having been 



