52 PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. 



THE TAN RABBIT. 



This variety is sub-divided. There are black and 

 tans and blue and tans. Either is very attractive. The 

 tan is a small and neat rabbit (the smaller in reason, the 

 better). It should be cobby in shape, and on no account 

 a heavy thick-boned rabbit. The colour, in blacks, 

 should be of a deep, not a rusty looking black. In 

 blues the colour should be pure and dense, but bright 

 and sparkling, not dull or brownish in tinge. The 

 triangle, or triangular shaped piece of tan fur at the 

 back of the ears, i.e., on the neck, should be of a rich 

 golden colour, dense but bright, and clean cut and well 

 defined. The face of the tan rabbit ought to be rich 

 black or blue, with tan nostrils not nose, but merely the 

 nostrils. There should be a circle of tan fur round the 

 eyes, and along the edge of the jaw or jowl a well defined 

 rich and dense tan line, plainly visible. The front legs 

 and feet should be clear black or blue as clear as 

 possible, but each toe should be pointed with tan. Neat 

 ears are requisite on a good tan. They must on no 

 account be long or heavy, and must be pure in the 

 black or blue, with outside and inside edges rich tan ; 

 and some breeders claim two distinct tan spots at the 

 base, resting on the forehead nearly. The hind feet 

 should be as densely tanned as possible on the inside, 

 the outside being black or blue. As much and as rich 

 tan colour on chest right up to throat as possible; 

 and a densely and fully tanned belly. Four pounds is 

 the weight advocated by some, but 4J- is the maximum 

 of the Tan Rabbit Club standard, which we shall 

 append. This is a rabbit which has been tamed and 

 vastly improved in a few years. We remember seeing 

 some specimens in a show in the south of London some 

 few years ago as wild as any conies. They hid under 

 the hay in the pens, and were poor in colour, and bore 

 traces of half cultivation. To-day the tan is a lovely 

 creature, and as tame as need be desired. There is some 

 difference of opinion in regard to the merits of certain 

 points of the rabbit. All attach much importance to 

 profusion and density of chest tan, but some give little 

 weight detrimentally to slight tan brindling on the fore 

 legs and feet. Others claim clear (of tan) legs and feet. 

 All seem to agree on a dense black face, but the trouble 



