[264] 'Phenomenon in Himalayan Rabbits,' in 'Journal of Horticulture,' 1865, Jan. 27th, p. 102.
[265] G. R. Waterhouse, 'Natural History of Mammalia: Rodents,' 1846, pp. 52, 60, 105.
[266] Delamer on 'Pigeons and Rabbits,' p. 114.
[267] Gosse's 'Sojourn in Jamaica,' 1851, p. 441, as described by an excellent observer, Mr. R. Hill. This is the only known case in which rabbits have become feral in a hot country. They can be kept, however, at Loanda (see Livingstone's 'Travels,' p. 407). In parts of India, as I am informed by Mr. Blyth, they breed well.
[268] Darwin's 'Journal of Researches,' p. 193; and 'Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle: Mammalia,' p. 92.
[269] Kerr's 'Collection of Voyages,' vol. ii. p. 177; p. 205 for Cada Mosto. According to a work published in Lisbon in 1717, entitled 'Historia Insulana,' written by a Jesuit, the rabbits were turned out in 1420. Some authors believe that the island was discovered in 1413.
[270] Something of the same kind has occurred on the island of Lipari, where, according to Spallanzani ('Voyage dans les deux Siciles,' quoted by Godron sur l'Espèce, p. 364), a countryman turned out some rabbits which multiplied prodigiously, but, says Spallanzani, "les lapins de l'ile de Lipari sont plus petits que ceux qu'on élève en domesticité."
[271] Waterhouse, 'Nat. Hist. Mammalia,' vol. ii. p. 36.
[272] These rabbits have run wild for a considerable time in Sandon Park, and in other places in Staffordshire and Shropshire. They originated, as I have been informed by the gamekeeper, from variously-coloured domestic rabbits which had been turned out. They vary in colour; but many are symmetrically coloured, being white with a streak along the spine, and with the ears and certain marks about the head of a blackish-grey tint. They have rather longer bodies than common rabbits.
[273] See Prof. Owen's remarks on this subject in his paper on the 'Zoological Significance of the Brain, &c., of Man, &c.,' read before Brit. Association, 1862; with respect to Birds, see 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.,' Jan. 11th, 1848, p. 8.