- VOL. LXII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 320 



same place, unless disturbed. They breed once or twice a year, and have 5 to 7 

 young at a lime: their weight is from 3 to 44- pounds. Their flesh is not so 

 white and delicate as that of the common rabbit, but yet is good food in summer 

 and winter. Great numbers of them are annually caught in the following 

 manner: as they always are used to go on one particular path, the English and 

 natives lay young trees across it, forming a hedge, in which there is an opening 

 for the creature to go through ; in this place they fix a snare, made of brass 

 wire, packthread, or the like, fastened with a slipping knot to a cross piece, the 

 ejid being tied to an elastic pole, so that when the animal puts its head into the 

 snare, the knot is drawn from the cross piece above, and the pole flying up, 

 immediately suspends the animal in the air. 



The proper characteristics of this species seem to be, 1. Its size, which is 

 somewhat larger than a rabbit's, but less than that of the alpine or lesser hare. 

 2. The proportion of its limbs, its hind feet being longer in proportion to the 

 bcxly than those of the rabbit and the common hare. Vide the Hon. Daines 

 Barrington's letter on this new species of hare, in this volume, p. 6. 3. The 

 tips of the ears and tail, which are constantly grey, not black. Kalm's Trav. 11, 

 p. 45. Perhaps some other characters might be ascertained, if the animal was 

 brought over in its perfect summer fur; for all the specimens in the Royal 

 Society's Museum are either entirely in their winter dress, or in a changing 

 condition. Mr. Kalm mentions, that those which are found in New Jersey, 

 where the climate is much more mild than at Hudson's Bay, keep the same grey 

 colour both summer and winter; that in spring they breed in hollow trees, 

 whence they are driven out by crooked sticks, smoke, &c. lastly, that they do 

 much mischief to cabbage fields and orchards, by eating the cabbage plants, and 

 the bark of the apple trees, feeding only by night, as the common hare. 



12. Quebec Marmot. Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 270, n. 199. Churchill river, 

 N^ 3. 



This creature is called aground squirrel, at Churchill fort; it differs much in size 

 from that described in the Syn. Quad, being much less than a rabbit, perhaps it is a 

 young one. The nose is blunt, the ears are short and roundish, the top of the head 

 chestnut, back all over sprinkled with whitish, black, and yellowish brown : the 

 legs and whole underside of the animal are of a bright ferruginous colour; the 

 tail is very short, and black at the tip. The length of the animal from the nose 

 to the beginning of the tail is about 1 1 inches, that of the tail 3 inches. Its 

 toes on the fore feet 4, hind feet 5. 



13. Common Squirrel. Penn. Syn. Quad. p. 279, n. 206. Sciurus vulgaris. 

 Linn. 



A variety of the common species, being somewhat inferior in size, having a 

 ferruginous back and grey belly, a shorter tail than the common European sort, 



VOL. XIII. U u 



