2o8 MAMMALIA. 



bordering many of the lakes and beaver meadows.* At all times 

 of the year it inhabits the burnt districts that are strewn with 

 charred loo-s and grown over with blackberry bushes, studded here 

 and there with saplings of the poplar, birch, cherry, and shad-bush. 



It does not inhabit burrows, nor take refuge in hollow trees, like 

 the gray rabbit, but seeks temporary shelter under a log, tree-top, 

 young evergreen, or other covert where it is not likely to be dis- 

 turbed. Here it spends the greater part of the day, feeding chiefly 

 by nio-ht. It follows certain definite routes with such frequency 

 that regular runways are formed. In these it is often snared. 



About the borders of the Wilderness the Varying Hare is a 

 favorite object of the chase. It is hunted with hounds, during the 

 early winter months, and is shot while circling through the swamps, 

 or crossino- from hill to hill in the burnt districts. Audubon and 

 Bachman state that its flesh is not good eating, to which opinion 

 I take exception, for, having eaten several dozens of them, I am 

 prepared to pronounce them tender and well-flavored. When 

 properly cooked they certainly constitute an excellent article of diet. 

 The above-mentioned authors observe : " This species in the 

 beo-innincr of winter varies from three to six and a half pounds, but 

 we consider five and a half pounds to be an average weight of a 

 full-grown animal in good condition." f In the Adirondack region 

 a five-pound Hare is exceptionally large, the adults averaging not 

 more than four and a half pounds (2,041 grammes) in weight. 



I have never found the nest, but it is doubtless placed under a 

 brush heap, or in some other equally secure covert. From four to 

 six young are produced at a birth, four being the usual number. 

 They are born late in May. There may be two litters in a season, 

 but I have no proof of it. This species has many enemies, among 



* In mv journal of a snow-shoe tramp in the Adirondacks, in January, 1883, I find the following 

 entry concerning this species : " Scarcely a track seen except about the l)orders of lakes and beaver 

 meadows. Very common near Big Otter Lake, and tolerably so at Little Safford Lake and in a 

 swamp west of Independence Lake ; also between Big Moose and Second Lake of North Branch, 

 and near the Forge." 



•j- Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. I, 1846, p. 96. 



