354 PET ANIMALS. 



of their fur: these are, the lead, or as it is technically called, the 

 blue-coloured and white, the black and white, and the tortoiseshell ; 

 and these varieties are again subdivided into three classes, from the 

 peculiar arrangement of the spots of colour on their faces, termed the 

 single, double, and butterfly smuts : of these, the latter is the most 

 valuable. The single smut is a solitary patch of a dark colour on 

 one side of the nose; the double smut, a spot on each side; and the 

 butterfly smut, a spot on each side of the nose, with a dash of colour 

 on the nose, forming altogether a slight resemblance to a butterfly. 

 Hence the name. If a black and white rabbit's face i ornamented 

 in this manner, it is said to be a black butterfly smut ; and if a lead* 

 coloured rabbit shows this mark, it is called a blue butterfly smut. 

 It is not really necessary that a fancy rabbit should possess these 

 markings, but if it does, its value is enhanced. Other marks must 

 likewise be well-defined upon the rabbit, before it can be fully 

 esteemed a perfect fancy one ; thus, a patch of dark colour should be 

 on its back, this is termed the saddle ; its tail must be dark, with 

 dark stripes also on each side of its body, in front, which from their 

 passing backward i so as to meet the saddle and, as it were, form a 

 collar, are styled by the fanciers the chain : the animal's throat may 

 be mottled with dark colour and white, but its legs and belly must be 

 of the most perfect snowy whiteness. Neither must the spots of 

 colour be grizzled, nor have many white hairs amongst them, for if 

 they have, the beauty and wholeness of the animal's colour are much 

 diminished ; neither should the saddle terminate in a harsh, abrupt 

 manner, but have its edges broken by dark spots, lessening gradually 

 in size, and ending with the chain on the shoulder; these spots, of 

 course, must also be f~ee from white hairs. It very seldom happens 

 that rabbits exactly perfect in point of colour can be procured, per- 

 haps scarcely one in a hundred ; the nearer they are to the rules, 

 however, the more they are valued at least in as far as the property 

 of colour is concerned. It also sometimes happens that very good 

 does produce young ones w^hich are merely touched with dark colour 

 that is, with only a spot or two round the eyes and on the back, 

 and perhaps a dark nose ; these generally are weakly animals. 



The dewlap is a property peculiar to fancy breeds, and is a highly 

 prized one, on account of the noble effect it has ; it is a protuberance 

 formed of skin and fat such as you are familiar with through seeing 

 oxen, and is not developed until the rabbit has nearly attained its 

 full size; it commences immediately under the jaw, goes down in 

 front of the chest, and ends between the fore legs ; it is indented in 

 the middle, and is frequently so large, that when the animal is in a 

 state of repose, with its head drooping, it projects on each side and 

 beyond the chin. 



The ears the most striking peculiarity of the fancy breeds must 

 be scrutinized very closely, to see that they are perfect according to 

 the fanciers' rules, which are, that they must never measure less than 

 fourteen nor more than seventeen inches in length from tip to tip, 

 measured across the head, except for the oar-lop variety, when the 

 extreme length may be eighteen inches ; in point of colour, the ears 



