AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
FOR THE 
Farm, G-arden, and HonseliolcL 
"AGRICULTURE IS THE MOST HEALTHFUL, MOST USEFUL, AND HOST NOBLE EMPLOYMENT OF aA-V.»-W.im,n,, 
ESTABLISHED IN 1842. 
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Entered according to net of Congress in November, 13G7, by Obasoe Jot>d & Co„ In the Clerk's Office of the District Conrt of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. 
YOLU3EE XXYI— No. 12. 
NEW-YORK, DECEMBER, 1867. 
NETV SERIES— No. 231 
1IIE INTERRUPTED SUPPER. — AFTER A P.UNTrNO BY LUDWIQ BeCKMAN, DUS3ELD0RF. — Engraved/or the American Agriculturist. 
One of the pests of European agriculture is 
the rabbit, which breeds seven times in a year, 
and as it produces eight at a birth, it is estimat- 
ed that the progeny of a single pair would in 
four years amount to the enormous number of 
1,271,480. It is fortunate that they have so many 
enemies, besides man, to keep them in check. 
Rabbits and hares are much alike, but differ in 
their habits — the hare is a solitary animal, and 
makes its nest or " form " on the ground, while 
the rabbit burrows and lives in large colonies. 
Naturalists place all our animals that are usually 
called rabbits among the the hares, of which we 
have in our entire territory some twenty species. 
Our common species is the Lepus syteaticus, 
found throughout the greater part of the United 
States. It retains its brown color all winter, 
while the Northern Hare, Lepus Americanus, 
which has a more northern range, is brown in 
summer, and white in winter. Both hares and 
rabbits are exceedingly timid, and for their safe- 
ty from their enemies rely upon their llcetncss. 
Our domestic rabbits are supposed to be varieties 
of the European L. cuniculus. The above group 
admirably represents characteristics common to 
these animals — contentment when no danger is 
suspected, and great timidity when alarmed. 
