306 THE COMMON HARE. 



formed and quick-sighted the moment they drop. 

 The mother suckles them for about twenty days, 

 after which they separate from her,, and procure 

 their own food, making their forms, or seats, at 

 sixty or eighty paces distance from each other. 

 Hares come to maturity in somewhat less than 

 twelve months, and, as we have seen by Mr. Cow- 

 per's account, live at least ten or eleven years. It 

 is said that these animals do not pair; but that the 

 male pursues and discovers the female by the 

 quickness of his scent. 



Sir Thomas Brown, in his Treatise on Vulgar 

 Errors, asserts, from his own observation, that fe- 

 male Hares frequently have in their ovaria, at the 

 same time, young ones of different ages; and that, 

 after those that are most mature are brought forth, 

 there will often remain others which are very far 

 from the term of their exclusion. This superfe- 

 tation, or conception upon conception, has not 

 hitherto been remarked in any other species of 

 animals. 



The fur of the Hare forms a principal material in 

 the manufacture of hats; and vast quantities are 

 annually imported into Great Britain, for that pur- 

 pose, from Russia and Siberia. In some parts of 

 Prance this fur is spun, and afterwards woven into 

 a kind of cloth! The fl-esh was considered a great 

 delicacy by the Romans; but it was forbidden by 

 the Druids, and the Britons of the early centuries. 

 It is to this day prohibited by the Mahometans 



and 



