THE LITTLE CHEIF HARE. 325 
intense cold of these northern latitudes, thus 
more effectually preventing radiation and waste 
of animal heat. Their food consists entirely of 
grass, which they nibble much after the fashion 
of our common rabbit. They never burrow or 
dig holes in the ground, but pass their lives 
among the loose stones. Who can fail to trace 
the evidence of Divine care in colouring the fur 
of this defenceless creature in a garb exactly 
resembling the grey lichen-covered fragments 
amongst which he is destined to pass his life ? 
So closely does the animal approximate in ap- 
pearance to an angular piece of rock when sitting 
up, that unless he moves it takes sharp eyes to 
see him; and the cry or whistle is so deceptive 
that I imagined it far distant, when the animal 
was close to me. 
The species described and figured by Sir John 
Richardson—F’.B.A., plate 19, Lepus (Lagomys) 
princeps, the little Cheif Hare—I first saw at 
Chilukweyuk lake, and next on the trail leading 
from Fort Hope, on the Fraser river, to Fort Col- 
ville. The little fellows were in a narrow gorge, 
as well as among loose stones. It was about the 
same date as in the preceding year that I had 
seen Lagomys minimus making its nest; but here 
