NATURAL HISTORY OF THE RABBIT 17 



states that a silver-grey rabbit is generally black in its 

 first coat. 



' Silver-greys ' can be readily reared in the open, 

 and there is no difficulty in keeping them apart from 

 the ordinary wild stock ; but they have nothing to 

 recommend them from the sportsman's point of 

 view, and the value of their skins at the present day 

 is hardly sufficient to warrant any special outlay in 

 rearing them. 



The question whether rabbits and hares ever 

 interbreed is one that is frequently asked, and appa- 

 rently many persons believe in its possibility. They 

 point to the so-called ' Belgian Hare ' or ' Leporine,' 

 which they assert is a well-known hybrid between 

 these two species. That the animal is well known 

 there is no doubt ; it appears at every rabbit and 

 poultry show of importance, and special prizes are 

 offered for the most typical specimens. Its appear- 

 ance, too, is that of a hybrid hare ; but the resem- 

 blance is merely superficial. About forty years ago 

 a breed of rabbits originated in Belgium which some- 

 what distantly resembled the ordinary brown hare, and 

 some enterprising breeder pretended that he had suc- 

 ceeded in crossing the hare with a rabbit, and that 

 these were the produce. Since this introduction the 

 so-called ' Leporines ' have been bred repeatedly, with 



c 



