36 PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 



be of the medium or between shade, and see that she is 

 even from nose to tail, feet and chest and all. Look 

 well to her being cobby in shape, with a short, full, 

 springy coat (a most important point); and see that she 

 is healthy and strong. Never overlook this ! Let the 

 buck be a good, even, dark shade, also of good shape 

 and short coat, and healthy. From these, with care 

 and watchfulness, a good strain may be built up. But 

 I would like to emphasise this with both parents see 

 that the coats are short and crisp. Too much stress 

 cannot be laid upon this point, for if you get the lovely 

 full, short, sharp coat so much desired, the wavy ticking 

 so much disliked will never be found. Nothing, to my 

 mind, is so distasteful as a wavy ticked Silver Grey. 

 Beware of a light chest, or blotches of white in the coats. 

 These are bad faults. Much discussion has taken place 

 as to the origin of the Silver Grey. When I first took 

 up the breed, 25 years ago, it was pretty well determined 

 that it originated in Lancashire, and when first brought 

 out was known as ' The Lancashire Sprig.' As an all 

 round rabbit for the table, combining fullness with 

 quality of flesh, Silver Greys are hard to beat. They 

 are small in bone, and fit for use at an early age. The 

 does are fairly prolific, and excellent mothers if not 

 interfered with. I hardly ever think of handling young 

 Greys until they begin to put their heads out of the 

 nests. I breed at any time of the year, so long as the 

 parents are in full coat, and never mate them until they 

 are 6 or 7 months old. If the Silver Grey is treated 

 properly, it will always pay its way, and will satisfy 

 the most fastidious, either as a pet, an exhibition rabbit, 

 or for table purposes." It will only be necessary to 

 supplement the above with the concise statement that 

 the Silver Grey section is divided into four parts, viz., 

 the light, between, medium, and dark shades. With 

 some present day judges the first two of these shades 

 seem the most popular. If we ever had a preference it 

 was for the dark shade, which we always found to be 

 the most difficult to breed, but the most profitable for 

 breeding purposes. The chief points of all on the show 

 table are evenness, colour, and condition. The ground 

 colour of the rabbit should be blue black; there should 

 be as nearly as possible an equal mixture of light and 

 dark hairs showing all over the body. The nose should 



