PET RABBITS, CAVIES, AND MICE. gi 



be of any colour. To Mr. Perrin's mind, they should 

 as nearly as possible resemble a Dalmatian dog. In 

 former years the " Broken " coloured mouse was simply 

 Dutch-marked, with spots on the body, but that is not 

 the sort of mouse sought after to-day. Some well- 

 known winners of to-day are spoilt by having head and 

 saddle marking, although the body patches are well- 

 nigh perfect. The same remarks apply to the varie- 

 gated mice. These should be separate, and it should 

 be made perfectly clear that mice with cheek-markings 

 and saddles would have to go behind those with _patches, 

 even though the patches were not so numerous. If this 

 were done, breeders would set to work to produce an 

 imitation of the Dalmatian or an unevenly patched 

 mouse, which would be a distinct and taking exhibit. 

 The patches should be about the size of a large pea, 

 and be placed indiscriminately about the mouse. The 

 variety which seems to show the greatest contrast to the 

 unevenly spotted is 



THE VARIEGATED, 



Because the markings of this variety are just the reverse 

 of the spotted. In the spotted variety the patches must 

 be of exceptionally sound colour, i.e., no white hairs in 

 the coloured patches, but with the variegated, the more 

 the coloured hairs are intermixed with the white the 

 better. They must be brindled from the tip of the nose 

 to the tail, and not have any solid patches of colour 

 upon them. Preference should be given to mice without 

 the slightest trace of blaze, cheek-markings, or saddle. 

 There should be no solid patches of colour upon the 

 flanks or belly. The variety, however, is not very 

 extensively bred, although they are not quite so difficult 

 to breed as the spotted ones. 



DUTCH-MARKED. 



These are one of the most difficult varieties to breed 

 true to standard. A Dutch rabbit is the ideal which all 

 breeders try to attain, but a Dutch-marked mouse will 

 never be bred to look the same as a Dutch rabbit. The 

 shape of the blaze can never be so perfect on a mouse, 

 because its ears are so wide apart, and that does not lend 



