44 THE BRITISH MAMMALS : THEIR GENERA AND SPECIES. 



down. The short tail is black above and white on the under sur- 

 face. The upper lip is thick, bristly, and deeply cleft. The eyes 

 have oblong pupils, and are large and prominent, and placed well 

 round on the head, so as to command almost as complete a circuit 

 of view as that of a bird. The body is long and compressed at the 

 sides, the head and body measuring about twenty-two inches, or six 

 times the length of the tail. The hare is strictly a vegetable feeder, 

 and is mainly nocturnal, spending much of the day in its " form," a 

 slight hollow in shelter from the sun and wind. There are three or 

 four litters a year, none earlier than March or later than August, and 

 there are three, four, or five young in each ; but, unlike those of the 

 rabbit, they are not born blind, and are soon left by the mother to 

 shift for themselves. This hare is not found in Ireland, but in 

 Britain it ranges from Cornwall to Caithness, from Kent to Suther- 

 land, and its area of distribution includes practically the whole of 

 Europe, except Sweden and Norway, where the only hare is the 

 next on our list. 



The Mountain Hare varies in colour from light brownish to buft 

 or leaden grey, and in winter becomes pure white, with the excep- 

 tion of the black ear-tips. The underparts are white all the year 

 through. The tail, in summer, is generally dark grey on the upper 

 surface. The head is more rounded than in the common species. 

 The ears are shorter than the head, and are black for half their 

 length or so, shading into yellowish grey with a white hinder border. 

 The head and body measure twenty-one inches at the outside, the tail 

 being about an eighth of that length." Its hind legs are also shorter 

 than those of the Common Hare ; but it is almost as fast on the 

 move, and leaps quite as far in a similar series of long and short 

 jumps, the long ones having been measured on the snow up to ten 

 feet, though as a rule they are about ninety inches, the short ones 

 averaging forty-five. This hare is an Arctic species, living during 

 the winter on lichens and pine seeds, and is found all round the 

 Northern Hemisphere, being represented in several isolated localities 

 to the south of its main range. In Ireland it does not turn white 

 in the winter ; in Scotland it does. And as it is the only hare that 

 turns white, it is obviously the Russian Hare of the provision trade. 



The Rabbit is generally tawny grey above with white under 

 parts ; the ears have either a small black tip or none at all, and the 

 conspicuous white tail is always blackish on the upper surface. The 

 head and body average some sixteen inches in length, and the tail is 

 nearly a quarter of that length, and the ears nearly a fifth. It is 

 not so flat sided as the hares, and is not so long on the legs, the hind 

 legs being much shorter in proportion. Instead of solitarily shel- 

 tering in a mere form, the Rabbit lives in colonies in burrows of its 

 own making. These burrows consist of a central chamber, with 

 several crooked approaches, and in this retreat, in a nest lined with 

 the mother's fur, from four to eight blind naked young are born, 

 which are carefully tended and protected for some time. The 

 Increase is rapid, as the young begin t9 t>reed at eight months, and 



