Animal life of the British Isles : $b a pocket guide to the mammals, reptiles and batrachians of wayside and woodlandStep, Edward
History
Animal life of the British Isles : $b a pocket guide to the mammals, reptiles and batrachians of wayside and woodland
Step, Edward
Animals -- Great Britain
Three geographical races or sub-species have been recognised by
Barrett-Hamilton as distinct species under distinct names. These are
Skomer Bank Vole (_Evotomys skomerensis_) from Skomer Island, off
Pembroke; Alston's Bank Vole (_E. alstoni_) from the Isle of Mull;
and the Raasay Bank Vole (_E. erica_) from Raasay Island, Skye.
Barrett-Hamilton regards these as descendants of a former "Boreal"
group of Voles, which have been supplanted on the British mainland by
the competition of the Bank Vole.
[Illustration: _Pl. 72._ _H 112._
*Retreat of the Bank Vole.*
Run continues from hole (left) under exposed root (right).]
[Illustration: _Pl. 73._ _H 113._
*Rabbit.*
Oryctolagus cuniculus.]
*Rabbit* (_Oryctolagus cuniculus_, Linn.).
The Rabbits and the Hares being comparatively large and familiar members
of our native fauna do not appear to stand in need of much space being
devoted to them. Familiar as the two common species may be they require
to be distinguished not only one from the other, but also from the
two other and less familiar species, and in addition there may be a
few facts of organisation and habit that are not well-known to all
our readers. All members of the family Leporidæ, there are certain
structural features in which they all agree in a general way. They
belong to the section of Rodents known as Duplicidentata, because in
the upper jaw there are always two pairs of incisors. All the other
Rodents have only one pair, and they form the division Simplicidentata.
The dentition of the Rabbits and Hares is therefore as follows: _i 2/1,
c 0/0, p 3/2, m 3/3 = 28_.
The ears are remarkably long and out of all proportion to the size of
the body when compared with other Mammals. If laid forward over the
face they reach nearly to the tip of the nose. The eyes are large and
prominent and placed well to the sides of the head. The hinder legs are
longer than the forelegs, and so greatly developed as to be the main
propelling power. Instead of pads on the soles to protect the foot and
legs from the jars incidental to hard running, the Leporidæ have all the
feet covered beneath with a thick coating of hair which gives a firm
grip either on hard rock or slippery snow. The tail is very short and
turned up. The fur is of triple formation: there is a dense, soft,
woolly under-fur, through which push longer and stronger hairs and give
the coat its colour, and a still longer but much less numerous set,
scattered among the others. The two longer sorts of hair are more or
less ringed. The coat becomes thicker in winter.
They are sexually mature at a very early age, and often begin to breed
before they have attained to full size. The females are distinguished by
the form of the head, which is longer and more delicately modelled than
that of the male. The males (bucks), too, are restless and quarrelsome.
They are promiscuous breeders, and the entire care of the family falls
upon the mother (doe).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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