RODENTS. 
198 
their favourite resorts; but in damp situations rabbits sometimes content them¬ 
selves with forming a series of runs among the thickly-matted gorse or heather. 
Occasionally, it is stated, they will take possession of a hollow tree, and ascend 
the stem for a considerable height. Although mainly nocturnal, rabbits when 
undisturbed may be seen abroad at all hours; but their favourite feeding- 
times are in the evening and early morning. The prolific nature of the rabbit 
rabbit (jt nat size). 
is proverbial; several litters being produced in the course of a year, both during the 
summer and the winter, and the number of young in each litter usually varying 
from five to eight. The young are born in a blind and nearly naked condition; 
and at the age of six months are themselves able to breed. The ordinary burrow 
usually has two entrances, but the young are born in a special excavation to which 
there is but a single approach. In this breeding-burrow the mother forms a soft 
nest from her own fur; and during her absence in the day she covers over the 
entrance with earth. It does not appear to be generally known that these animals 
can swim; but a rabbit startled by a dog belonging to the present writer, from a 
tuft of grass on the margin of a river, at once plunged into the water and reached 
