162 MODES OF KEEPING VARIETIES. 



so profitable to the owner as hutching, in which 

 mode, also, they may be preserved, with due care, 

 in the highest state of health. On this head I find 

 the following remark in my memoranda for the year 

 1805 : Rabbits at large, must always suffer more in 

 point of profit, by loss of number, than they gain, by 

 cheaper feeding, exclusive of the mischief they do ; 

 and this principle operates proportionally in limited 

 enlargement, as in the unlimited upon the warren. 

 They are quarrelsome and mischievous animals ; and 

 the bucks, when at liberty, destroy a considerabe 

 part of the young. A run abroad, indeed, for young 

 rabbits, until a certain age, might be beneficial if 

 growth were the object ; but all rabbits must be se- 

 parated at the age of puberty, or as soon as they be- 

 come fit for breeding ; they will else tear each other 

 to pieces. 



As to the VARIETIES of FORM and COLOUR, in the 

 rabbit, the short-legged, with width and substance 

 of loin, generally few in number, and to be obtained 

 only by selection, are the most hardy, and fatten 

 most expeditiously, taking on fat both internally and 

 in the muscular flesh. They have besides the 

 soundest livers, the rabbits being generally subject 

 to defects of the liver ; they are the smallest variety. 

 There is a very LARGE VARIETY of the hare colour, 

 having much bone, length and depth of carcase, 

 large and long ears, with large eyes, resembling 

 those of the hare. They might well be taken for 

 hybrid or mules, but from the objection of their 

 breeding. Their flesh is high coloured, substantial, 

 and more savoury than that of the common rabbit : 



