Varying Hare 



the southward it merges gradually into the southern cotton- 

 tail and westward into the following. 

 4- Prairie Cottontail. Lepus Jforidanus mearnsi (Allen). Much 

 lighter than any of the preceding, especially on the rump, 

 ears light, without black edgings, and no spot between 

 them. Size rather larger. 

 Range. Upper Mississippi Valley south to Indiana and east 

 to Central New York and Ontario. 



Varying Hare 



Lepus americanus virginianus (Harlan) 



Called also Snow-shoe Rabbit, White Hare. 



Length. 19 inches 



Description. Summer. Upper parts russet to dull ferruginous, 

 lower parts white. Winter. Entirely white, though in southern 

 part of its range some individuals remain partially brown through- 

 out the winter. 



Range. Wooded regions of north-eastern North America south- 

 ward along the Alleghanies to West Virginia, becoming scarce 

 south of Maine. 



Our northern hare or white rabbit is a perfectly typical hare 

 with the absurdly long hind legs characteristic of the tribe, dwelling 

 by preference in old growth evergreen forests on gently sloping 

 hillsides with here and there dense thickets of young spruce and 

 pine springing up between the trunks of the older trees. 



Of all our wild animals they are beyond question the most 

 helpless and incapable. It is evidently impossible for them to use 

 their paws for grasping as most of the smaller quadrupeds 

 habitually do, and I have never seen any evidence of their carry- 

 ing things with their mouths. 



Winter and summer and in all kinds of weather they have 

 no better shelter than the drooping boughs of an evergreen, 

 beneath which each crouches alone for protection against the storm 

 and concealment from its enemies, never more than half asleep 

 apparently and always on the alert to dash away the instant it 

 catches the scent of fox or ermine to the windward, or the crackle 

 of a footstep in the distance. Whenever they feel hungry they 



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