128 ANIMALS OF THE 



senses : what mankind at one time consider as 

 beautiful, fragrant, or savoury, may at another 

 time, or among other nations, be regarded as 

 deformed, disgustful, or ill tasted. That flesh 

 which the ancient Romans so much admired as 

 to call it the food of the wise, was, among the 

 Jews and the Druids, thought unfit to be eaten ; 

 and even the moderns, who, like the Romans, 

 consider the flesh of this animal as a delicacy, 

 have very different ideas as to dressing it. With 

 us it is simply served up without much seasoning ; 

 but Apicius shews us the manner of dressing a 

 hare in true Roman taste, with parsley, rice, 

 vinegar, cummin seed, and coriander.* 



[The Varying Hare has soft hair, which m 

 summer is grey, with a slight mixture of black 

 and tawny: the ears are shorter, and the legs 

 more slender, than those of the common hare; 

 the tail is entirely white, even in summer ; and 

 the feet are more closely and warmly furred. In 

 winter, the whole animal changes to a snowy 

 whiteness, except the tips and edges of the ears, 

 which remain black, as are the soles of the feet, 

 on which, in Siberia, the fur is doubly thick, and 

 of a yellow colour. It is less than the common 

 species. These animals inhabit the highest Scot- 

 tish Alps, Norway, Lapland, Russia, Siberia, 

 Kamtschatka, and the banks of the Wolga and 

 Hudson's Bay. In Scotland, they keep on the 

 tops of the highest hills, and never descend into 

 the vales ; nor do they ever mix with the common 



* Vid. Apicii, &c. 



