294 REPORT OF ONTARIO GAME No. 52 



nous cotton-tail. The Wm. Davies Company of Toronto have already 

 placed a shipment of these rabbits on the market with considerable 

 success, selling them at 75 cents per pair, dressed, as compared with 

 the average price of the cotton-tail, 50 cents per pair. 



In this Province the indigenous cotton-tail is apparently not much 

 relished as a food, and, judging by its price on the New York and Chi- 

 cago markets, some 22 cents per pair, it is not very much esteemed by 

 our neighbours to the south. The chief reason for this would appear 

 to lie in the fact that its flesh is somewhat hard and bitter to the 

 taste. The English or Australian rabbit, however, possesses a flesh 

 more akin to that of veal in appearance, and is, in addition, sweet and 

 slightly gamey to the taste. While this rabbit is a grazer, the cotton- 

 tail is a browser, and, moreover, owing to its habits of retiring into the 

 swamps and rough lands in the summer months, comparatively safe 

 from the pot-hunter, during a great portion of the year. In appear- 

 ance the two varieties are comparatively easy of distinction, and it may 

 also be noted that, while the skin of the Australian rabbit is tough and 

 can easily be removed whole, this is not the case with the indigenous 

 cotton-tail, whose hide is much more brittle. 



The rabbit is a prolific breeder, whose only known use in nature 

 is to serve as a food for certain carnivorous animals and birds. It is, 

 however, accepted by the- best authorities to be unwise on general 

 grounds to run the risk of upsetting the balance of nature by the exter- 

 mination of any particular species, even though its uses to man may 

 not be apparent, for the reason that no one can foresee the result of 

 such extermination. The habits of the cotton-tail, however, as has been 

 pointed out, are such as to largely eliminate this risk, and so, altliough 

 the imported Australian rabbit would actually be fetching on the 

 market a higher price than the indigenous rabbit, it would seem that the 

 advantage of securing a reasonably cheap, wholesome and constant 

 game food for the people outweighs the consideration of any prob- 

 lematical risk to the existence of the local variety, especially in view 

 of the facts that the importation of the Australian rabbit would in 

 no way be violating the principle of inter estate co-operation, and that 

 the marked difference in flavour would in itself be a potent factor in the 

 prevention of the substitution of the local variety. 



As a game food, the price of 75 cents per pair, dressed, averaging 

 5 to 6 lbs., is not excessive, but it may be noted that, if the trade in rab- 

 bits grew to large enough proportions to warrant the purchasing of 

 great quantities in Australia, and their importation via British Colum- 

 bia, instead of as at present purchasing from the wholesale market in 

 London, England, the price would, in all probability, be considerably 

 reduced. 



Your Commissioner is pleased to report that on all sides 

 there is evidence that the close season of two years has had its bene- 

 ficial effect, and that the finest native game bird of the Province, the 



