142 * THE AMEHICAN HARE. 



bow as tliey were at long shots with the rifle ; hut for a 

 short time I felt much disappointed at not being able 

 to kill a single specimen weighing anything like the 

 weights they had mentioned. 



According to the old Jewish law, hares were classed 

 amongst the ruminant animals ; but in these modern 

 days naturalists have assigned them a place amongst ro- 

 dentia, or gnawing animals. There are, however, some 

 few who still adhere to the old biblical classification ; 

 pointing out, in support of their opinion, the singular 

 contraction of the stomach of the hare as beingf akin to 

 the cavities observable in the other species of rumi- 

 nating animals. 



The Indians, in addition to their poaching practice 

 of snaring the hares, shoot them with their arrows as 

 they sit in their forms — approaching in a most stealthy 

 manner, under cover of any bushes that may be in the 

 neighbourhood. In this kind of sport the red-skins are 

 very successful. 



Sometimes they have a battue on a grand scale, which 

 they conduct in the following manner: First of all, they 

 construct a rude kind of net, from a species of hemp, 

 of about four feet in width ; and with this they enclose 

 a large space where the ground is supposed to be 

 favourable ; in other words, where there is plenty of 

 cover in the shape of clumps of wild myrtle-bushes, 

 tufts of long grass, and shrubs. The net is kept in an 

 upright position by means of pointed sticks driven into 



