RABBIT. 131 
to the warren with their utmost speed ; and if the 
way be short, there is scarce any dog, how swift 
Boever, that can overtake them. 
But it does not always happen that these animals 
are possessed of these external apartments ; they 
most usually bring forth their young in the war* 
ren, but always in a hole separate from the male. 
On these occasions, the female digs herself a 
hole, different from the ordinary one, by being more 
intricate ; at the bottom of which she makes a 
more ample apartment. This done, she pulls off 
from her belly a good quantity of her hair, with 
which she makes a kind of bed for her young. 
During the two first days she never leaves them ; 
and does not stir out but to procure nourishment, 
which she takes with the utmost dispatch ; in this 
manner suckling her young for near six weeks, un- 
til they are strong, and able to go abroad them- 
selves. During all this time, the male seldom 
visits their separate apartment ; but when they are 
grown up, so as to come to the mouth of the hole, 
he then seen^s to acknowledge them as his offspring, 
takes them between his paws, smoothes their skin, 
and licks their eyes ; all of them, one after the 
other, have an equal share in his caresses. 
In this manner the rabbit, when wild, consults 
its pleasure and its safety ; but those that are bred 
up tame, do not take the trouble of digging a hole, 
conscious of being already protected. It has also 
been observed, that when people, to make a war- 
ren, stock if with tame rabbits, these animals, hav- 
ing been unaccustomed to the art of scraping a 
hole, continue exposed to the weather and every 
other accident without ever burrowing. Their im- 
mediate offspring also are equally regardless of 
their safety ; and it is not till after two or three 
generations, that these animals begin to find the 
necessity and convenience of ail asylum, and prac % 
