teaspoonful of chopped lemon-peel, a few forcemeat balls, thickening of
butter and flour, 1 large tablespoonful of mushroom ketchup.
_Mode_.--Cut the rabbit into small joints; put them into a stewpan, add
the onions sliced, the cloves, and minced lemon-peel. Pour in sufficient
water to cover the meat, and, when the rabbit is nearly done, drop in a
few forcemeat balls, to which has been added the liver, finely chopped.
Thicken the gravy with flour and butter, put in the ketchup, give one
boil, and serve.
_Time_.--Rather more than 1/2 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. to 1s. 6d each.
_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.
_Seasonable_ from September to February.
[Illustration: LOP-EARED RABBIT.]
FANCY RABBITS.--The graceful fall of the ears is the first thing
that is looked to by the fancier; next, the dewlap, if the
animal is in its prime; then the colours and marked points, and,
lastly, the shape and general appearance. The ears of a fine
rabbit should extend not less than seven inches, measured from
tip to tip in a line across the skull; but even should they
exceed this length, they are admitted with reluctance into a
fancy stock, unless they have a uniform and graceful droop. The
dewlap, which is a fold of skin under the neck and throat, is
only seen in fancy rabbits, after they have attained their full
growth: it commences immediately under the jaw, and adds greatly
to the beauty of their appearance. It goes down the throat and
between the fore legs, and is so broad that it projects beyond
the chin.
The difference between the fancy and common rabbit in the back,
independent of the ears, is sufficient to strike the common
observer. Fancy rabbits fetch a very high price; so much as five
and ten guineas, and even more, is sometimes given for a
first-rate doe. If young ones are first procured from a good
family, the foundation of an excellent stock can be procured for
a much smaller sum. Sometimes the ears, instead of drooping
down, slope backwards: a rabbit with this characteristic is
scarcely admitted into a fancy lot, and is not considered worth
more than the common variety. The next position is when one ear
lops outwards, and the other stands erect: rabbits of this kind
possess but little value, however fine the shape and beautiful
the colour, although they sometimes breed as good specimens as
finer ones.
The forward or horn-lop is one degree nearer perfection than the
half-lop: the ears, in this case, slope forward and down over
the forehead. Rabbits with this peculiarity are often perfect in
other respects, with the exception of the droop of the ears, and
often become the parents of perfect young ones: does of this
kind often have the power of lifting an ear erect. In the
ear-lop, the ears spread out in an horizontal position, like the
wings of a bird in flight, or the arms of a man swimming. A
great many excellent does have this characteristic, and some of
the best-bred bucks in the fancy are entirely so. Sometimes a
rabbit drops one ear completely, but raises the other so neatly
horizontally as to constitute an ear-lop: this is superior to
all others, except the perfect fall, which is so rarely to be
met with, that those which are merely ear-lopped are considered
as valuable rabbits, if well bred and with other good qualities.
"The real lop has ears that hang down by the side of the cheek,
slanting somewhat outward in their descent, with the open part
of the ear inward, and sometimes either backwards or forwards
instead of perpendicular: when the animals stand in an easy
position, the tips of the ears touch the ground. The hollows of
the ears, in a fancy rabbit of a first-rate kind, should be
turned so completely backwards that only the outer part of them
should remain in front: they should match exactly in their
descent, and should slant outwards as little as possible."
The same authority asserts that perfect lops are so rare, that a
breeder possessing twenty of the handsomest and most perfect
does would consider himself lucky if, in the course of a year,
he managed to raise twelve full-lopped rabbits out of them all.
As regards variety and purity of colour an experienced breeder
says:--
"The fur of fancy rabbits may be blue, or rather lead-colour,
and white, or black and white, or tawny and white, that is,
tortoiseshell-coloured. But it is not of so much importance what
colours the coat of a rabbit displays, as it is that those
colours shall be arranged in a particular manner, forming
imaginary figures or fancied resemblances to certain objects.
Hence the peculiarities of their markings have been denoted by
distinctive designations. What is termed 'the blue butterfly
smut' was, for some time, considered the most valuable of fancy
rabbits. It is thus named on account of having bluish or
lead-coloured spots on either side of the nose, having some
resemblance to the spread wings of a butterfly, what may be
termed the groundwork of the rabbit's face being white. A black
and white rabbit may also have the face marked in a similar
manner, constituting a 'black butterfly smut.'
"But A good fancy rabbit must likewise have other marks, without
which it cannot be considered a perfect model of its kind. There
should be a black or blue patch on its back, called the saddle;
the tail must be of the same colour with the back and snout;
while the legs should be all white; and there ought to be dark
stripes on both sides of the body in front, passing backwards to
meet the saddle, and uniting on the top of the shoulders at the
part called the withers in a horse. These stripes form what is
termed the 'chain' having somewhat the appearance of a chain or
collar hanging round the neck."
"Among thorough-bred fancy rabbits, perhaps not one in a hundred
will have all these markings clearly and exactly displayed on
the coat; but the more nearly the figures on the coat of a
rabbit approach to the pattern described, the greater will be
its value, so far, at least, as relates to colour. The beauty
and consequent worth of a fancy rabbit, however, depends a good
deal on its shape, or what is styled its carriage. A rabbit is
said to have a good carriage when its back is finely arched,
rising full two inches above the top of its head, which must be
held so low as for the muzzle and the points of the ears to
reach almost to the ground."
STEWED RABBIT, Larded.