THE RABBIT. 733 



digious bounds, and it has been known to leap over a wall eight feet 

 high. 



It is a wonderfully cunning animal, and is said by many who have 

 closely studied its habits to surpass the fox in ready ingenuity. Some- 

 times it will run forward for a considerable distance, and then, after 

 returning for a few hundred yards on the same track, will make a great 

 leap at right angles to its former course, and lie quietly hidden while the 

 hounds run past its spot of concealment. It then jumps back again to 

 its track, and steals quietly out of sight in one direction, while the 

 hounds are going in the other. 



The Hare also displays great ingenuity in running over the kind of 

 soil that will best suit the formation of her feet, and has been known on 

 more than one occasion to break the line of scent most effectually by 

 leaping into some stream or lake, and swimming for a considerable dis- 

 tance before she takes to the land again. 



In pursuing the Hare with greyhounds, the dogs are held in couples 

 in a leash, and are let loose when a hare is seen. This is the method 

 adopted in coursing matches. In this sport a judge rides after the dogs, 

 and makes note of their performance ; the number of turns, and the like, 

 which each of the contestants successfully achieve, and not the mere 

 seizing of the hare, decide the victory. 



The Hare has been often tamed. The poet Cowper amused his 

 solitude with his tame hares, and celebrated them in his verse. Dr. 

 Franklin had a hare that used to sit between a cat and a greyhound 

 before the fire, and lived on the best terms with them, and they have been 

 taught various tricks, such as beating drums, firing pistols, and dancing. 



The Snow Hare, Lcpiis Alpinus, is very similar to the American 

 Hare. It is more lively and daring than the common species. The 

 head is shorter, rounder, and more arched ; the ears are smaller, the eyes 

 are dark-brown. In winter the Snow Hare is pure white, except the 

 tips of the ears ; but in summer is a uniform grayish-brown. The Irish 

 Hare, Lepus Hibcrnicns, closely resembles the Snow Hare, but does not 

 change its color. In the high north, the Hares remain white all the 

 year through. 



THE RABBIT. 



The Rabbit or Coney, Lcpus cuniathis (Plate LX), is distinguished 

 from the Hare by its smaller dimensions, its grayer color, and its shorter 



