THE AMERICAN HARE. 



329 



DIFFERENT VARIETIES. 



There are several varieties of Hares distributed over different 

 sections of our extensive country. Their habits are generally 

 very analogous to those of the Lepus Sylvaticus. 



Some varieties, however, are smaller, while others are larger, 

 and those inhabiting the more Northern latitudes change their 

 sombre summer pelage during the Winter months to a spotless 

 white. Their flesh at the proper season is generally esteemed, 

 and the timid creatures are consequently much persecuted by 

 the inhabitants of the districts wherever they are found. 



MEMORANDA. 



1. The American Hare is not a Rabbit, but a bona fide Hare, 

 both in appearance, flesh, and mode of life ; no Naturalist dis- 

 putes the point, 



2. Different varieties of foreign Rabbits have been imported 

 into the country from time to time, but there is no species of 

 Rabbits a native of this continent as yet discovered. 



3. The American Hare, as the European, lives singly above 

 ground, and never burrows ; they also breed far less often than 

 the Rabbit, and have fewer at each litter. 



4. The English Rabbits live in communities, and form ex- 

 tensive excavations in the ground, termed burrows or ivarrcns, 

 where they mostly reside and deposit their young. 



