154 



VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



upper jaw. The ears are long, the inside of the 

 mouth, and the soles of the feet and toes, are hairy, 

 the tail short and erected. Our common Hare (L. 

 Timidus), like most of the genus, is a solitary animal, 

 while the Rabbit (L. Cuniculus), on the contrary, as- 

 sociates in large troops, dwelling in burrows. " The 



: -- V -'"-" -.- ' --*> v-_ 



THE RABBIT (Lepus Cuniculus). 





prevailing colour is a mixture of grey and reddish 

 brown ; in some the principal colour is fulvous, in 

 others the grey predominates. The admirable wisdom 

 which assigns such colours as these to a group of ani- 

 mals which conceal themselves in the brown sombre 

 vegetation of heaths and woods, will appear more 

 striking when it is recollected that certain species, in- 

 habiting the snowy regions of the north, become 

 wholly white in the winter."* 



* Bell, Brit. Quad. p. 334. 



