286 RODENTIA. 



in breadth. The lops and half lops were once much 

 admired, but the fancy seems to have languished of late 

 years. Many of the old-fashioned Eabbit Clubs are now 

 defunct, and the size of the Eabbit has depreciated in 

 consequence. Eabbit-rearing is a favourite pastime 

 with many people, especially boys. The very fine lop 

 ears are rather delicate, and are often kept warm by 

 means of gas stoves. The open-hutch rearing of Eabbits 

 appears not to be very successful. These hutches are 

 open at the bottom with the exception of wire netting, 

 and are placed on the grass. The position has to be 

 changed from time to time, as occasion requires. The 

 females have a special compartment for breeding. A 

 Eabbit-hutch is easily made out of an old cask or case, 

 a division being made for a sleeping apartment, and an 

 aperture being made at the back to keep it sweet, and 

 to enable it to be cleaned. The hutch scrapings furnish 

 an excellent manure. Hutches are sometimes made in 

 tiers. Tame Eabbits should be handled as little as 

 possible. 



The food of the tame Eabbit consists of cabbages, 

 lettuces, parsley, sow-thistle, dandehon, grass, and, in 

 fact, everythmg of a vegetable nature. These may be 

 varied with oats and bran, and, when kindling, a few 

 tea-leaves will be of great advantage to the doe. Water 

 should rarely be given. The tame Eabbit lives to the 

 age of eight or nine years. The doe breeds when six 

 months old, and makes her nest in a circular form, 

 lining it with the fur torn from her own breast. The 

 young are born quite naked and blind. Wlien disturbed, 

 the mother often devours her offspring. The time of 

 gestation is thirty days, and there are four to six, some- 

 times eight or ten, and even eighteen in a litter. Differ- 

 ently coloured young are often found in the same litter 



