44 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



pointed and somewhat hoof-like claws. Tail long-. 

 The leaping hare equals our common hare in size : the 

 fur is soft, and of a dark fawn or brownish-yellow, pass- 

 ing into white beneath ; the tail is hairy and tufted at 

 the extremity with a pencil of black. The head is large, 

 the ears are long and pointed, and the eyes full and dark. 

 Native country, South Africa. (Fig. 27.) 



The leaping hare is a burrowing animal, making its 

 holes in the soft sandy ground, which it digs up with its 

 fore-paws, spurting it backwards with its hind-feet, as is 

 done by the rabbit. In these burrows it sojourns during 

 the day, secure from the attacks of the various carni- 

 vorous animals which infest the precincts of its retreat. 

 Night is the season of activity : it steals forth on the close 

 of daylight to feed ; and in some districts where it 

 abounds the depredations which it commits in the fields 

 of grain are very serious. It proceeds in the same 

 manner as does the jerboa, by a se»ies of bounds ; and 

 when the animal is pursued, each bound it makes clears 

 a space of twenty or thirty feet. It eats sitting nearly 

 upright, and using its fore-feet in the manner of a squirrel, 

 to bring the food to the mouth. It also sleeps in the 

 same attitude, excepting that the head is bent down 

 between the hind- limbs, while the fore-paws cover the 

 eyes and ears. 



The leaping hare gives preference to the sides of steep 

 and craggy mountains, and in some places they colonize a 

 considerable extent of ground, making it a complete 

 warren. Mr. Burchell, on his second journey to 

 Asbestos Mountain, observed their burrows in abundance. 

 Whether this animal lays up a store of winter provision, 

 or whether it hybernates during a part of the year, does 

 not appear to be ascertained ; but it is very certain that, 

 in the localities it frequents, it is not only subject to a low 

 temperature during the cold season, but that it will also 

 experience a scarcity of its usual food. 



The voice of the leaping hare is a kind of inarticulate 

 grunt. 



The Caffres esteem these creatures for food, and expel 

 them from their burrows by pouring water into the 

 entrances, when they issue forth and are easily taken. 



