The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-10-06
Oklahoma Rabbit Story

The Enid Eeagle has taken I'D the
cause of the fleet and frugal jackrab6it
against that upstart and inierlopev, thu
Belgian hare, which il considers, hgur-
ativesy speaking of course, not so many.
The Eagle says: THE rearing Of Bel
gian hares is quite fad ar the present
time. and this animal is getting TO De
popular in Oklahoma. Mrs BILLINGS of
the Hotel FrantZ. has FIVE of them, and
the two original does cost her an even
hundred dollars. Mrs. Billings is enthas-
iastic over the good points in the Bel
gian hare's character ard personality,
and has tried TO gst the Eagle intet ested
also. Mrs. Billings and the Eagle
are agreed on politics, religion and thz
composition of a good meal, not 10 men
ton the lesser questions concerning hu-
man happiness, but we are not so sure
about this Belgian hare proposition We
are rather inclined 10 stay with our per-
sonal fiend of long standing, the west
ern Kansas jack rabbit. We speak Of
the jack rabbit as a western Kansas
production because we believe he origin
ated there. and that ii is his natural
home Mrs. Billings is positive that tbs
jack rabbit is not in the same class as
the Belgian hare, but we have known tn :
jack rabbit a long while. and he ras
several commendable qualities which we
do not know are embodied in the has
make up. True, our friend, when first
brought in of of the buffalo grass, does
not compare favorahy in looks with his
more aristocratic cousin, and his flesh
may not be so delicate and toothsone
but this latter can be accounted for il
a measure by the difference in diet The
jack rabbit does not always get he
choicest morsels of food, and often lives
for long periods on a diet of sage brush
and cottonwood bark. After countless
generations of such treatment, is II sur
prising that his flesh is a trifie coarse
and not extra wei favored? The Eel
gian hares, as well as his ancestors from
time immemorial, has enjoyed the best
provender and care that could be pro-
vided, and he would be an migrate il h
did not furnish a good meal. We ad
mire the jack in particular for his stay
ing qualities. No matter whether the
mercury stands at 10 in the shade, or
10 below zero, he can always be found
at home. He accepts the bounties of
nature thankfully when they come his
way, and does not kick on a short crop.
He doesn't migrate with the ducks ard
geese, and advancing civilization does
not scare him out. The hare has a shade
the better of the jack in one resp ect,
and that is that the females produce a
fresh litter of young every thirty days
However this is not an indication of
high caste, but quite the contrary; and
the jack rabbit breeds plenty fast
enough. Given the same care for sew
enty-fve years that the Belgian hare
has, the jack rabbit Will doubtless devel-
op into just as handsome and just as
palatable an article. We would not
throw straw in the way of the Belgian
hare fancier, but we are not yet ready
to renounce our allegiance to our friend
This paper is as patriotic as its name
implies, and we cannot let the national
hare of Belgium or any other country
supplant the original American article In
our estimation"