RABBITS, CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 
575 
no comparison with it, for while the wild meat is dark, dry, and has 
more or less of a strong taste, the meat of a tame rabbit is white, tender 
and juicy, like the breast of a chicken. 
Rabbits breed when from four to six months old, producing from 
six to eight litters a year. Fine hay should be given the doe for her 
nest, the inside of which she lines with fur taken .from her body. The 
young number from five to nine to a litter, are bom blind and helpless 
and covered with a short, velvety down. At the age of six days they 
open their eyes, and when one month old they are quite lively and do 
not need their mother’s care. The period of gestation of the doe is 
thirty or thirty-one days. The life of the rabbit is from six to eight 
years. Rabbits will eat almost anything of a vegetable nature, such 
as oats, turnips, bdets, clover, carrots, apples, and cabbage. In feed- 
ing clover do not give it to them wet and heavy; let it be cut the dav 
before and get wilted. In feeding for the table avoid giving cabbage. 
Keep water by them in warm weather. The ground is the best place 
for them to run on, but they will not do well confined in boxes. Rabbits 
will burrow and breed in the ground. 
Guinea Pig3. 
Everyone knows what a common Guinea pig is like, hence a lon<r 
description is unnecessary. As a pet for children he is one of the best 
being pei fectly harmless, and the young folks seem especially to like 
him. He is smaller than a rabbit, and bears some resemblance to one 
in form, except that his legs are shorter and his head is placed so near 
his shoulders that it seems to have no neck, and his ears are short like 
those of a rat. They have prominent black eves and no tail They 
breed when two months old, .having a litter every two months of from 
two to five. I he young run about and eat the same kind of food as the 
old ones as soon as they are born. There is a variety of Guinea pigs 
caUed Abyssinian Guinea pigs, which are pure white with pink eves 
I heir hair stands up in irregular ridges, giving them a very odd and 
grotesque appearance. 
Ferrets. 
The ferret is a native of Africa. They iiave been domesticated 
and breed well in confinement, being of great use to man not only in 
driving out squirrels from their burrows or holes, but in killing or 
driving away rats, which are often of great annoyance. In stables 
grain stores, or grist mills, a ferret is a sure cure for rat troubles They 
will also drive out prairie dogs and gophers; gray squirrels may also 
be driven out of ledges or hollow trees by the use of a ferret In all 
cases when the ferret is at work perfect quiet should be kept 
There are two kinds of ferrets— the English, which are buff or 
white, with pink eyes; the other, called the fitch, which are of a dark 
silver-gray color. As to the hunting qualities of either breed or sex 
there is no difference. Males can be used at all times, but it would not 
always be prudent to hunt the females. To handle a ferret take him 
