THE SABBII. 



FEEBINO. 



Thekb is a great diversity of opinion as to the Ijest mode of 

 feeding rabbits. Mr. Young thinks that carrots and parsley are 

 what the rabbits are most fond of, but that oats and hay should 

 always he given along with as much green food as' they can 

 possibly consume. By adopting this system, he declares that 

 at the age of five or six months they may easily be br>ught to 

 the weight of a full-sized hare — that is, to a weight of five or 

 six pounds. Mowbray says, " I kUled a buck which weighed 

 three pounds, fit for the spit ; it was put up in good case, and 

 was only one month in feeding, consuming not quite four 

 quarts of oats, with hay, cabbage, lucerne, and chicory." 



It should be remembered " that the rabbit is naturally an 

 animal of nocturnal, or we ought rather to say of crepuscular, 

 that is, twilight habits. It is, therefore, an error to believe 

 that it is requisite to give them a substantial meal at noon ; on 

 the contrary, nature and observation indicate that they ought 

 to be left in quiet at that hour, when they are almost always in 

 a state of repose, especially during summer. The best feeding 

 times are very early indeed in the morning, and about sunset 

 in the evening. They usually eat with the greatest appetite 

 during the night." 



The author of " British Husbandry" gives the following tes- 

 timony relative to the expediency of feeding rabbits chietly on 

 oats : — " Having heard that a full-grown rabbit, of four or Hve 

 months old, will eat a quart of oats in eight days, we resolved 

 on trying the experiment. We therefore purchased a fine buck 

 of that age, and had him fed entirely upon oats, with only a 

 little green vegetables just to improve his appetite, and found 

 that in six weeks he ate six quarts of good oats, weighing at 

 least forty pounds to the bushel. He \ma then killed and 

 dressed in the manner of a brown frica^Fne ; bnt though of re- 

 markably fine flavour, he only weighed^ T;hen trussed, three 

 pounds two ounces. With regard to the expense of this sort of 

 feeding : assuming that a rabbit is to be fed with both garden 

 stuff and com after being weaueu, liltle more than half the 

 above quantity of oats will be sufficient ; and if continued at 

 that rate for four months from his being weaned, the quantity 

 of rnts which he will consume will perhaps not exceed ten 

 pounds, the cost of which, if bonght at three-and-sixpence per 



