IRISH HARE. 28! 



Inches. 



Length to end of tail M ..24 



of head 5 



-tail 3 



ears 4 



from heel to end of claws 5f 



The above description is from nature, and differs 

 from that of Mr Bell, who says " The character of 

 the fur is also remarkably different, (from that of the 

 Common Hare :) it is composed exclusively of the 

 uniform soft and shorter hairs which in the English 

 (and Scottish) species is mixed with the black-tipped 

 long hairs, which give the peculiar mottled appear- 

 ance of that animal ; it is therefore of a uniform 

 reddish-brown colour on the back and sides." The 

 hairs, as I have stated, are as in the Common species: 

 namely, woolly hairs or under-fur, long hairs or pile, 

 and still longer and more slender hairs ; and the 

 darker colour of that species is chiefly caused by 

 the under-fur, which, in place of being red at the 

 end, as in the Irish Hare, is black. In the latter, 

 the fur is shorter, and therefore less valuable. 



This animal seems to have been discovered in 

 Liverpool, in 1833, by the Earl of Derby, who sent 

 a specimen to the Linnsean Society, which was sub- 

 sequently described by Mr Yarrel. Mr Bell first 

 admitted it as a distinct species. It appears to me 

 to be fully as much allied to the Varying as to the 

 Common Hare, although it does not become white 

 in winter like the former. 



