THE AMERICAN HARE. 325 



mantle of glistening frost, that the timorous Hare ventures 

 forth in quest of food, or courses undisturbed over the plains." 



Although Sportsmen meet with Hares in considerable num- 

 bers at all hours of the day, it must be recollected that they 

 are not found feeding, but, on the contrary, are generally roused 

 from their forms, where perhaps they have been crouching for 

 hours in undisturbed repose. 



"During the moonlight nights, the timorous Hare maybe 

 seen sporting with its companions in unrestrained gambols, 

 frisking with delighted eagerness around its mate, or busily 

 engaged in cropping its food." 



THEIR FOOD. 



The Hare is not a very dainty animal as to the choice of her 

 food ; everything produced upon a farm or cultivated in the 

 garden, is alike palatable to her, and she not unfrequently makes 

 great havoc with the Autumnal turnip and cabbage crops ; she 

 also frequents the cornfields to glean the scattered grains, and 

 visits the orchards in quest of the juicy apple. The partiality 

 on the part of the Hare for the last-mentioned fruit is turned to 

 fearful account against them by those who bait their traps and 

 snares with it, for the dainty morsel thus laid in their very 

 path seldom fails to entice an unwary Hare within its deceptive 

 clutches. 



Later in the season, when food is scarce, and nothing more 

 palatable is at hand, Hares often become very destructive to the 

 young nurseries, by gnawing the tender bark from the fruit- 

 trees, which they greedily devour. 



Hares are fond of every description of wild fruit and berries, 

 and it is not until after the commencement of the frost, when 

 all these various productions are ripe, that they become fit for 

 the table. 



In the North, they depend for support during the long win- 

 ters, upon the buds and bark of the pine and fir, upon which 

 they grow fat. "The Indians in this quarter are said to eat the 

 contents of their stomach, notwithstanding the food is such as 

 we have just mentioned." 



