94 THE ROEBUCK 



preference being given to acacia, alder, aspen, larch, lime, moun- 

 tain ash, Weymouth pine, and silver fir, trees on the edges of drives 

 or glades suffering in greatest degree. 



5. Varying their ordinary food with beechnuts and acorns, or 

 with the cotyledons of seedling beech and oak. 



FIG. 61. THE ROEBUCK. 



GROUND GAME 



This term applies to hares and rabbits, both belonging to the 

 order Rodentia, or gnawing animals, and included in the family 

 Leporidae (hare kind), which is distinguished by its members possess- 

 ing two small incisors in the upper jaw in addition to the two ordin- 

 ary incisors, thus making four incisors in the upper and two in the 

 lower jaw, whilst no canines exist in either jaw. The pro-molars 

 number six in the upper and four in the lower jaw, and the molars 

 exist to the number of six in each jaw. The latter two kinds of 

 teeth are destitute of roots, and the clavicles or collar bones 

 are of a rudimentary nature. The front feet possess five and 

 the hinder four toes, and the hind legs exceed the fore- 

 limbs in length. The tail is short and erect, and the two orbits or 

 eye cavities of the skull communicate by an aperture in the septum 

 or partition which divides them. The hare possesses a redder fur 

 than the rabbit and greater length of ears, which are tipped with 

 black. The hind legs in the hare are proportionately longer than 

 in the rabbit, and the eyes are larger and more prominent. The 



