and other Animals in Canada* 75 



owing to the banishment and persecution they meet with on 

 every side, and so many small warrens taken in for grain 

 land; in consequence of which it is time, that some pro- 

 tection should be afforded, if possible, to that important 

 branch of British manufactory (in which coney wool is used) 

 from suffering any inconvenience in the want of so essential 

 an article, and the accomplishment of this grand object I 

 conceive perfectly easy. 



General Observations. — When I speak of the warren 

 rabbit, I have to observe, that there are in England, as well 

 as in most parts of Europe, three other kinds, viz. the tame 

 rabbit, of various colours, the fur of which is of little val>e, 

 except the white ; the shock rabbit, which has along shaggy 

 fur of little value ; the bush rabbit, like those of America, 

 which commonly sits as a hare, and the fur of each is of a 

 rotten inferior quality. 



To return to the warren rabbit. — There are two sorts in 

 respect to colour, that is, the common gray, and the silver 

 gray, but little or no difference in respect to the strength and 

 felting qualities of the fur. The nature of this animal is to 

 burrow deep in sandy ground, and there live in families, 

 nor will they suffer one from a neighbouring family to come 

 amongst them without a severe contest, in which the in- 

 truders are generally glad to retire with the loss of part of 

 their coats, unless when pursued by an enemy, when they 

 find protection. 



It is scarcely worth while for me to mention a thing so 

 generally known, viz. that rabbits, particularly those of the 

 warren, are the most prolific of all other four-footed animals 

 in the world ; nor do I apprehend any difficulty would attend 

 the exporting this little quadruped with safety to any di- 

 stance, provided It was kept dry, and regularly supplied with 

 clean sweet food, and a due regard to the cleanliness of the 

 boxes or places of confinement. 



Twelve or fifteen pair of these valuable animals taken to 

 Upper Canada, and there enclosed within a small space of 

 ground suitable to their nature, but furnished with a few 

 artificial burrows at the first, by way or a nursery, spread 

 over those now useless plains, islands, and peninsulas, so 



well 



