Papular 0tctuwari) 0f &mniat*lr Mature. 303 



geogr 

 in No 



tricts (and therefore sometimes called the 

 Alpine Hare), it is diffused through a wide 



ographical range; being found on the Alps, 

 orway, Sweden, Lapland, Russia, Siberia, 

 and Kamtschatka, and occurring also in our 

 own island on the summits of the Scottish 

 mountains. In summer its colour is a tawny 

 gray, with a slight admixture of black ; in 

 winter it is entirely white, except the tips of 

 the ears, which are black. It shelters itself 

 in the cliffs of rocks, is easily tamed, and 

 becomes extremely playful and amusing. 

 Towards the month of September it changes 

 its colour, and resumes its summer dress 

 about April ; but in the intensely cold 

 climate of Siberia it continues white all the 

 year round. It has been sometimes found 

 entirely coal black ; a variety which is also 

 known to take place occasionally in the 

 common species. When the winter has 

 proved unusually severe, the Varying Hare 

 has been known to migrate from the frozen 

 hills of Siberia, and to descend, in troops of 

 five or six hundred, into the plains and 

 woody districts, where they remained till 

 the returning spring. 



In the southern and western provinces of 

 Russia there is a mixed breed of Hares, 

 which sustains only a partial loss of its 

 colours ; the sides, and the more exposed 

 parts of the ears and legs, becoming white 

 in the coldest months, while the other parts 

 remain unchanged. This variety is by the 

 Russians called Russak : and prodigious 

 numbers are taken in snares for the sake of 

 their skins only ; the Russians and Tartars, 

 like our own druidical ancestors, holding 

 the flesh of Hares in the utmost detestation. 



The AMERICAN HARE (Lcpus Americanus) 

 is not much larger than a rabbit, by which 

 name indeed it is well known throughout 

 the northern parts of that vast continent. 

 The summer hair is dark brown on the 

 upper part of the head, lighter on the sides. 

 and of an ash colour below ; the ears are 

 wide, edged with white, tipped with brown, 

 and dark coloured behind ; tail dark above, 

 white beneath, having the under surface 

 turned up ; the fore legs are shorter and 

 the hinder longer in proportion than those 

 of the European. In the middle and south- 

 ern states, the change in the colour of the hair 

 is by no means as remarkable as it is farther 

 north, where it becomes nearly white. It 

 is not hunted in America, but is generally 

 roused by a dog, and shot or caught by 

 means of snares or a common box-trap, the 

 latter being the most usual mode. It has 

 the same kind of leaping gait as the Euro- 

 pean hare ; and, like that animal, it breeds 

 several times during the year. It is not of 

 a migratory nature, but always continues to 

 haunt the same places, taking occasional 

 refuge under the roots of trees, or in the 

 hollows near the roots. 



In Mr. Gosse's " Canadian Naturalist" we 

 find the following information respecting 

 the American Hare : "It is found pretty 

 generally over North America, from this 

 ince, even to the Gulf of Mexico, where it 



more common than it is with us. Here its 

 winter coat is nearly white, but in summer 



provi 

 is mo 



it is of a yellowish brown, with a white tail. 

 It makes a nest or bed of moss and leaves 

 in some hollow tree or old log, whence it 

 issues chiefly by night. Though not so much 

 addicted to gnawing as the squirrels, yet as 

 its teeth are formed in the same manner, it 

 probably resembles them in its food, eating 

 various kinds of nuts and seeds, as well as 

 green herbs. It is said also occasionally to 

 peel off the bark from apple and other trees. 

 A singular mode of taking furred animals 

 out of hollow trees, logs, &c. is practised in 

 the south, called 'twisting.' I once saw it 

 performed on a rabbit (so called) ; the dogs 

 had tracked him and driven him to his hole 

 in the bottom of a hollow hickory tree. The 

 hole was too small to admit the hunter's 

 hand with convenience, so we made the 

 negroes cut down the tree, which was soon 

 effected. When it fell, we watched the butt, 

 to see that the rabbit did not run out, but 

 he did not make his appearance. The 

 hunter then got some long slender switches, 

 and probing the hollow, found that the 

 rabbit was at the farther end several feet 

 up the trunk. He now commenced turning 

 the switch round in one direction, a great 

 many times, until the tip of it had become 

 so entangled in the animal's fur, as to bear 

 a strong pull. He then began to puil steadily 

 out, but the rabbit held on as well as he 

 could, and made considerable resistance, 

 crying most piteously, like a child ; at last 

 the skin gave way, and a great mass of fur 

 and skin came out attached to the switch, 

 pulled off by main force. He now took a 

 new switch, and commenced twisting again, 

 and this time pulled the little thing down, 

 but the skin was torn almost completely off 

 the loins and thighs of the poor little crea- 

 ture, and so tightly twisted about the end 

 of the stick, that we were obliged to cut the 

 skin to get the animal free 1 " A more cold- 

 blooded or barbarous cruelty, practised on 

 a harmless and defenceless animal, it is 

 scarcely possible to conceive j and were it 

 not for the undoubted veracity of the writer 

 we should reject it as well on the score of 

 its incredibility as of its inhumanity. 



The CAPE HARE. (Lepus Capensis.') This 

 species, which is about the size of the one 

 last described, inhabits the country near the 

 Cape of Good Hope, frequenting the most 

 rocky and mountainous situations, and 

 taking up its abode in the fissures of the 

 cliffs. The ears are long, broad in the 

 middle, naked, and rose-coloured on the 

 outside, and covered with short grey hairs 

 within : the back and upper parts generally 

 are similar in colour to that of the Common 

 Hare ; the cheeks and sides are cinereous ; 

 the breast, belly, and legs, ferruginous ; and 

 the tail, which is bushy, turns upwards. 

 At the Cape it is called the Mountain Hare, 

 or VLAKTE HAAS. In one of the specimens 

 in the British Museum the nape of the neck 

 has two white streaks. 



The BAIKAL HARE (Lepus Tola?) is rather 

 larger than the common Hare, and has a 

 longer and smaller head, but in colour and 

 general appearance, pretty much resembles 

 it. This animal is an inhabitant of the open 



