134 THE AMEKICAN HAEE. 



the arrival of flocks and herds with their attendant 

 shepherds, — he will be in a waste of barren, stony soil, 

 where he will be tormented with thirst, eaten up by all 

 kinds of flies and mosquitoes, and, unless he takes 

 wood, and food, and water with him, he will be lucky 

 not to have to go to bed tireless and supperless. The 

 Indians, too, whom the novice in prairie-life will expect 

 to find all grace, elegance, and chivalry, will turn out 

 to be a filthy horde of savages, wrapped in vermin- 

 eaten buflalo-skins, their repulsive faces daubed with 

 various coloured earths or ores. These miserable 

 tramps will most probably extract from the inexpe- 

 rienced traveller a far greater portion of his stores than 

 he can well spare ; or, should he refuse to comply with 

 their inordinate requests, will very, probably send an 

 arrow through his body, rob him of his gun, ammuni- 

 tion, knife, and other valuables, and leave his body to 

 the mercy of wolves and vultures. 



But to return to our hares. The period of gestation 

 is about six weeks, and the females bring forth their 

 young during the month of May, hiding them away 

 in crevices of rocks, in the roots of hollow trees, or 

 in dense bushes, forming for them a nest of grass, 

 dried leaves, and fur plucked from their bodies. Some 

 hunters assert,— I know not with how much truth, — 

 that the American hare brings forth its young twice in a 

 year. Certain it is that young hares, not more than 

 four or five days old, have been seen in the Southern 



