LECTURE XIV. 419 



entirely the tamed hare. This breed also presented no 

 practical advantage. It is different with the recrossing with 

 the male hare. The quarter hares of the second blood, the 

 progeny of a hare and a half-blood female, are stronger, 

 finer, and larger than the original stock. These bastards 

 of the second blood, three-quarter hare to one quarter 

 rabbit, resemble their grandmother rabbit as much as their 

 father hare, so that they might be taken as half-blood bastards 

 if their pedigree were not known. The characters of the rab- 

 bit thus predominate over those of the hare, probably because 

 the mother was a rabbit. In an accidental cross breed in Italy 

 between male rabbit and doe hare, the particulars of which 

 have not reached us, the young rather resembled the hare. 



The quarter hares are prolific between themselves, but only 

 in a limited degree, casting, like wild hares, only from two to 

 five young. To render them more prolific, M. Roux recrossed 

 them with half-blood does. 



We shall term this new product three-eighth hares. They are 

 as fine as three-quarter hares, and much more prolific ; they 

 cast five to eight young, which are more easily brought up than 

 rabbits, grow fast, and are jDroductive after four months. The 

 female, like the doe-hare and the rabbit, brings forth after 

 thirty days, suckles the young for about three weeks, and 

 receives again the male seventeen days after delivery, so that 

 five litters may easily be obtained within a year. This three- 

 eighth race is that which M. Roux breeds in preference, as it 

 requires no more provender than the rabbit, and yields more 

 meat. A yearling ^'house-hare" commonly weighs six pounds, a 

 wild hare eight pounds, a three-eighth hare eight to ten pounds; 

 some attain twelve and fourteen pounds, and one weighed six- 

 teen pounds. The three-eighth hares acquire with advancing 

 age a fine fur, which frequently fetches a franc, being of a 

 reddish grey colour, and of the same consistency as that of the 

 wild hare. The market price of a three-eighth hare is about 

 two francs, whilst that of a rabbit is only one franc. The flesh 

 is white, like that of the wild rabbit, but of excellent flavour, 

 resembling that of the turkey. 



These three-eighth hares have a thicker head than the rab- 



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