HARE. 



705 



spots, which continue to increase till the end of Octo- 

 ber ; but still the back continues of a grey colour, 

 while the eye-brows and ears are nearly white. From 

 this period the change of colour advances very rapidly, 

 and by the middle of November the whole fur, with 

 the exception of the tips of the ears, which remain 

 black, is of a shining white. The back becomes white 

 within eight days. During the whole of this remark- 

 able change in the fur no hair falls from the animal ; 

 hence it appears that the hair actually changes its 

 colour, and that there is no renewal of it. The fur 

 retains its white colour until the month of March, or 

 even later, depending on the temperature of the atmo- 

 sphere, and by the middle of May it has again a grey 

 colour. But the spring change is different from the 

 winter, as the hair is completely shed." This species, 

 even during the most intense cold which occurs in 

 those elevated and northern regions of which it is a 

 native., keeps up the character of the race in the ra- 

 pidity of its circulation and the high degree of its 

 temperature. Even there it is as warm as one hun- 

 dred and five degrees of the common thermometer, 

 which is nearly ten degrees higher than in the human 

 body. True to this activity of its system, the Alpine 

 hare never shows the least disposition to hybernate, 

 or pass into a state of torpidity, even in the severest 

 winters ; and for great part of the year at least (its 

 haunts have comparatively few visiters in the winter) 

 it evinces nearly the same fertility and disposition to 

 breed as those of its congeners which inhabit the 

 most fertile places. It is altogether a very interest- 

 ing animal, on account of the peculiarity of its haunts 

 and the determination, or rather the adaptation, with 

 which it braves the utmost severity and duration of 

 the winter storms. In the winter months, even when 

 the storms are most severe and the snow lies longest 

 upon the ground, those hares do not descend to the 

 low grounds, but reside in burrows under the snow. 

 Those burrows are usually made near the root of 

 some tuft or upland bush, by means of which a sort 

 of chimney is kept open for the breathing of the ani- 

 mal, and it feeds upon the substance of the tuft. 

 As it preserves its high temperature during the rigour 

 of the weather, it also of course keeps up its rapid 

 circulation, and requires a corresponding quantity of 

 breathing and of food. All those circumstances go 

 together in every animal ; for in those species which 

 sink into a dormant state during the winter, the 

 temperature sinks at least nearly to the freezing- 

 point in some of the species, though we are not aware 

 of any warm-blooded animal that recovers if its internal 

 temperature has been for some time below freezing. 

 Under the snow, and with their thick and white fur, 

 these animals have no uncomfortable place of residence. 

 Snow, till it melts, is a bad conductor of heat ; 

 and therefore the shelter of unmelted snow is really 

 warmer than that of a hole in the earth. The white 

 fur of the animal prevents the escape of heat from its 

 body to the snow around it, and the warm air which 

 it gives out in breathing speedily mounts up in the 

 colder atmosphere, producing comparatively little 

 effect on the breathing chimney. In a sunny day, 

 when the air is still and clear over the snow, the re- 

 treats of these animals can be discovered by the little 

 column of steam which ascends from the breathing- 

 chimney, and which forms a sort of miniature picture 

 of the smoke from the snow-house of an Esquimaux. 

 There are some characters which we omitted to men- 

 tion, in which the Alpine hare differs from the com- 

 NAT. HIST. VOL. II. 



mon one. Among others, the ears are shorter in 

 proportion ; and the silky, or long fur, is of rather 

 finer staple. The fur altogether is, however, the fur 

 of a hare, and not of a rabbit. 



THE IRISH HARE (L. Hibernicus). This animal 

 has not, we believe, got a name of its own in general 

 circulation, neither was it suspected to differ from the 

 common hare until of late years, when the two were 

 examined in juxtaposition with each other. So far 

 as we are aware, this species is confined to Ireland, 

 at least no mention of it has been made by any of 

 the continental naturalists. The colours are very 

 nearly those of the common hare ; but it is smaller 

 in size, shorter on the legs, has the ears shorter, 

 and the head shorter and more rounded. Its fur 

 too is tender and of little value, being much more 

 like the fur of a rabbit than that of the hares of Bri- 

 tain. Indeed, though it is called the hare in Ireland, 

 it appears to have altogether a good deal more of the 

 rabbit character. 



THE RABBIT (//. cuniculus). The rabbit, in a 

 state of nature, is considerably less than the hare ; 

 the ears are shorter than the head ; the tail is not so 

 long as the thigh ; and the whole action and motion 

 of the animal less vigorous and fleet than those of 

 the hare. The general colour in a state of nature is 

 yellowish grey, with reddish on the neck and brown 

 on the tail, with the throat and belly whitish. The 

 ears are grey, and without any black on the tips. 

 The rabbit is a native of warmer climates than the 

 hare ; and it is altogether an animal of different ha- 

 bits. The hare inhabits only where there is cover, 

 at least to some extent, while the rabbit is met with 

 in the open and sandy wastes. The hares never 

 burrow in the ground, but the rabbits always do ; 

 and they live in solitude, while the rabbits are gene- 

 rally gregarious. Rabbits have been known from 

 the earliest periods of history, and the first or ear- 

 liest accounts which we have of them represent them 

 as inhabiting the warm and sandy places of southern 

 climates, especially those near the shores of the sea. 

 We are informed by Pliny that Spain and Greece 

 were those countries of Europe in which rabbits were 

 first found ; and it is related both by him and Varro 

 that an entire town in Spain was overturned by the 

 increflible number of rabbits which lodged under its 

 foundations ; and Strabo tells us that the people of 

 the Balearic islands, apprehensive that their country 

 would be rendered desolate by the vast multiplication 

 of these creatures, sent deputies to Rome, to implore 

 military aid against this novel description of ene- 

 mies. The Spaniards, in subsequent periods, thinned 

 their numbers by means of ferrets, which they had 

 imported from Africa. It is asserted by Spallanzani, 

 that when the crops were wasted in Baziluzzo, one 

 of the Lipari islands, by an extraordinary increase of 

 rabbits, the inhabitants had recourse to large importa- 

 tions of cats, which in a very short period of time 

 entirely destroyed them. It is supposed that the 

 species was originally confined to Africa, and was 

 afterwards diffused over the warmer and milder 

 parts of Europe and Asia. It has found in its intro- 

 duction to America a climate more congenial to its 

 constitution, and in consequence has very rapidly 

 multiplied, especially in the more southerly coun- 

 tries of that continent. It does not thrive in Sweden 

 in the open air, but requires the warmth of confine- 

 ment. When only five or six months old, rabbits are 

 capable of breeding ; their terra of gestation is Ihirtv 

 Y Y 



