84 THE GNAWERS 



In Southern California many farmers and others went into 

 the Belgian hare business. Ordinary English rabbits were 

 imported under high-sounding names. Extraordinary prices 

 were paid for rabbits, in some instances five hundred dol- 

 lars, and pedigrees were published extolling Rex I or Do- 

 minions II. Rabbitries sprang up everywhere, and special 



Fig. 63. — The Squirrel. 



papers were published on the Belgian hare. Certain men 

 and women became professional Belgian hare judges and 

 traveled about the country from town to town. The papers, 

 and even magazines, were filled with accounts of the hares 

 (which were rabbits) and their owners. Suddenly it was 

 discovered that people would not eat rabbit all the time 

 even if it was given away, and the great Belgian hare 



