THE RABBIT. 117

otherwise these animals will be sickly.
They are extremely prolific, beginning to
breed when about six months old, and
producing young seven times a year, the
litter usually consists of eight. Rabbits
are subject to two disorders, which often
prove fatal to them,—the rot and a kind
of madness. They are taken either by
snaring them, or smoking them from their
holes by the fumes of sulphur. Their fur
is extremely useful in the manufacture of
hats, and their flesh is more juicy than
that of the hare.