Why rabbits are birds

From Wikipedia article on Japanese counters:

wa – 羽 – Birds, rabbits* (see note); 羽 means “feather” or “wing.”

*Japanese Buddhist monks were not allowed to eat any meat other than birds, but liked rabbit meat so much they came up with the contrived “explanation” that rabbits are actually birds, and that their ears are unusable wings. The rationale was that while moving, ther rabbits touched ground only with two feet at a time.