PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 37 



not be light, nor the tail dark. The dark hairs furnish 

 the ticking, and the light ones the silvering. Too many 

 silver hairs spoil the effect of a few dark ones, and make 

 the rabbit too much of a self colour, and not bright 

 enough. The weight of the rabbit should not exceed 

 5 Ibs.; it should have neat ears, short and carried well 

 up, and be a compact specimen all through, with a coat 

 as bright and dazzling as may be. Here is the standard 

 of points adopted by the Silver Rabbit Club: 



Points 



Under-colour In Greys a rich, deep, blue black; 

 in Fawns, a deep, bright, orange; in Browns 

 a rich, deep chestnut ... ... ... ... 25 



Evenness of silvering throughout ... ... ... 20 



Sharp, even, bright ticking ... ... ... ... 15 



Short, full coat 15 



Ears, neat, and well set on, bold, bright eye ... 10 



Condition and shape ... ... ... ... 15 



Total ... 100 

 THE SILVER FAWN. 



A reference to the standard just quoted will show 

 that the points of excellence are similar in almost every 

 respect to those for the Silver Grey. The remarkably 

 inexplicable fact about the Silver Fawn is that, notwith- 

 standing its delicate beauty, it is not nearly so popular 

 as the Silver Grey. But on many occasions in recent 

 years it has managed to beat the Grey in the final tug 

 of war for Champion honours. It did so at the Crystal 

 Palace in 1906. We think wrongly, but it did so. A 

 good Silver Fawn is a rabbit to be admired. Its cobby 

 shape, neat perky appearance, small prick ears, and the 

 tone of ground colour are alike aids to effect. To 

 picture a Silver Fawn in the mind's eye one would have 

 to take a rich, deep, and bright orange ground, and over 

 that spread a gauze of silver hairs intermixed so as to 

 diversify them equally with orange hairs similar to the 



