Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/220

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204
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS

exceed this weight, but in all other respects they resemble the common cottontail.

In the case of the domesticated rabbit, however, you will find the dressed rabbit compact and well filled out in shape, the meat white throughout like the breast of a chicken, and the weight running from three pounds up to ten and fifteen pounds dressed. There is a difference in flavor, too, which can be recognized only after one has eaten both animals. The wild rabbit is apt to be strong and rank in flavor. The domesticated rabbit is sweet and juicy and of fine texture.

The difference between the two as an article of food is due to many causes. A great many people have just cause to dislike the wild rabbit and do not care for it as an article of food. They should not fall into the error of believing that the domesticated rabbit is subject to the same objections as the wild rabbit.

In the first place, the domesticated rabbit is one of the most carefully fed food animals in existence. It does not suffer from scavenger