292 HISTORY OF 



the reader, to refer him to some animal that he knows, in order 

 to direct him in conceiving the figure of such as he does not 

 know. Still, however, he should be apprised that his know- 

 ledge will be defective without an examination of each particu- 

 lar species ; and that saying an animal is of this or that particu 

 lar kind, is but a very trifling part of its history. 



Animals of the hare kind, like all others that feed entirely 

 upon vegetables, are inoffensive and timorous. As Nature fur- 

 nishes them with a most abundant supply, they have not that 

 rapacity after food remarkable in such as are often stinted in 

 their provision. They are extremely active and amazingly swift, 

 to which they chiefly owe their protection ; for being the prey of 

 every voracious animal, they are incessantly pursued. The hare, 

 the rabbit, and the squirrel, are placed by Pyerius, in his Trea- 

 tise of Ruminating Animals, among the number of those that 

 chew the cud ; but how far this may be true I will not pretend 

 to determine. Certain it is that their lips continually move 

 whether sleeping or waking. Nevertheless they chew their 

 meat very much before they swallow it, and for that reason I 

 should suppose that it does not want a second mastication. All 

 these animals use their fore-paws like hands ; they are remark- 

 ably salacious, and are furnished by Nature with more ample 

 powers than most others for the business of propagation. They 

 are so very prolific, that were they not thinned by the constant 

 depredations made upon them by most other animals, they would 

 quickly over-run the earth. 



THE HARE. 



Of all these the hare is the largest, the most persecuted, and 

 the most timorous; all its muscles are formed for swiftness; 

 and all its senses seem only given to direct its flight. It has 

 very large prominent eyes, placed backwards in its head, so that 

 it can almost see behind it as it runs. These are never wholly 

 closed ; but as the animal is continually upon the watch, it sleeps 

 with them open. The ears are still more remarkable for their 

 size ; they are moveable, and capable of being directed to every 

 quarter ; so that the smallest sounds are readily received, and 

 the animal's motions directed accordingly. The muscles of the 

 body are very strong, and without fat, so that it may be said 



