Rabbits are eminently gregarious, forming in suitable soils numerous burrows, collectively termed "warrens." Sandy soils, especially those clothed with heath or gorse, are their favorite resorts; but in damp situations rabbits sometimes content themselves 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 favorite feeding-times are in the evening and early morning. The prolific nature of the rabbit 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 blind and nearly naked in 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 it has been known to happen.
The chief foes of these animals are weasels, stoats, and polecats, which either hunt them in the open, or attack them within the recesses of their subterranean haunts; the curious kind of paralysis which seems to seize the rabbit when pursued by one of these carnivores. Although now widely distributed, it is believed that the original home of the rabbit was in the countries on both sides of the western portion of the Mediterranean, where it is till abundant. It is considered to have spread northwards, and to have reached England and Ireland by human agency. In Scotland it has increased and spread enormously, having formerly but sparsely distributed, and unknown in the more northern parts of the country. The remains of rabbits occur in the caves of England in company with those of the mammoth and other extinct mammals, which would seem at first to disprove the view that these animals are immigrants from the south.
The rabbit has been introduced by human agency into several countries beyond Europe, where it has flourished and multiplied to a degree beyond conception;- so much so, indeed, that in Australia and New Zealand these animals have become a pest and a serious hindrance to agriculture. Rabbits were first introduced by a colonist to Australia and New South Wales, because he thought they would serve for food and for sport. It was not long before the district had been transformed into a gigantic rabbit warren. Indeed it was discovered that a single pair of rabbits, under favorable circumstances, would in three years have a progeny numbering 13,718,000. The inhabitants of that colony soon found the rabbits were a plague, for they devoured the grass, which was needed for the sheep, the bark of trees, and every kind of fruit and vegetables, until ruin to the colony seemed inevitable.
Tame rabbits were introduced into the island of Porto Santo, near Madeira, in the year 1418 or 1419, and their descendants have now formed a breed distinguished by their small size, the reddish color of the fur of the upper-parts, and the grey tints of that below. So different, indeed, are these rabbits from the ordinary kind, that the two kinds will not even breed together. If the history of the Porto Santo race were not known, it would undoubtedly be regarded as a distinct species. Tame rabbits which have run wild in Jamaica and the Falkland Islands have not reverted to the ordinary wild form, but still exhibit distinct traces of their origin.
The rabbit has long been kept in a domesticated state, in which it varies not only in color but likewise in size, in length of the fur, in the form and direction of the ears, and also to some extent in the conformation of the skull. the usual colors are brown, fawn, reddish brown, or black, more or less mingled with white; and there is also an albino race with pink eyes. Among the most remarkable changes produced by domestication is the assumption of a pendant position of one or both ears, which become greatly enlarged, accompanied by a modification in the skull.
The Angora breed is readily distinguished by the length and fineness of its fur, which is even of considerable length on the soles of the feet. These rabbits are more sociable in disposition than the other domestic breeds; and that the males do not exhibit that tendency to destroy their offspring which is so characteristic of the rest. The hare-colored or Belgian rabbit differs mainly from other large breeds by its color; while other strains which breed true to color are the so-called silver-greys and chinchillas, which are born black, and assume their characteristic colors later on. Silver-greys generally have black heads and legs, and the fine grey fur of the body is intermingled with a number of long and black hairs. These rabbits have long been kept in warrens; and when crossed with the wild breed, one half of the progeny, or thereabouts, takes after the one parent, and the second half after the other. On the other hand, chinchillas, or tame silver-greys, have short, paler, mouse-colored, or slaty fur, among which are long, black , slate-colored and white hairs. Darwin remarks that silver-greys may be regarded as black rabbits, which become grey at an early period of life. By crossing silver-greys with chinchillas a certain number of the resulting offspring belong to what is known as the Himalayan breed. When first born these rabbits are generally true albinos, having pure white fur and pink eyes; but in the course of a few months they gradually become blackish brown on the ears, nose, feet, and the upper surface of the tail.
