and the Maritime Provinces. 1 i 9 



them in a nest in February. Sometimes the ice beneath and around their 

 home becomes so thick that it is impossible for them to effect an egress, 

 when the weakest furnish food for the others. Occasionally a piratical 

 mink enters their home, in which event the whole family is sacrificed. 



In a short time we re-embarked in the canoe and continued on our 

 course around the lake. 



" I noticed many signs of rabbits beneath the bushes on the edge of the 

 shore," said the Doctor ; " they must be very abundant in this neighborhood." 



"Yes," I responded, "but the species that exists here is not the 

 rabbit ; it is the northern hare, a considerably larger animal than the 

 common rabbit of the three southern New England States. It is more 

 retiring than the other, preferring heavily-wooded districts, and very seldom 

 venturing into the fields. I have found them in greater abundance in 

 Nova Scotia than elsewhere and have seen large wagon loads of them 

 carried to market. It is much pursued by sportsmen. On being hunted 

 by dogs, it often doubles on its tracks and thus sometimes eludes its pur- 

 suers. It does not take refuge in holes in the earth as does the common 

 rabbit, on being hard pressed, but depends entirely on its fleetness and 

 strength and the thickness of the covert. Its flesh is usually very palata- 

 ble, but in winter, when it feeds on spruce and hemlock twigs, it is far from 

 attractive. In the daytime the hare does not move around much, but 

 remains concealed beneath a clump of bushes or in a bunch of brush ; this 

 is called its form. It has almost innumerable enemies, and were it not 

 prolific it would soon be exterminated. The young are usually five or six 

 in number, and two litters are born in a year." 



" The common rabbit of Massachusetts and more southern States 

 does not come so far north as this, then," said the Doctor. 



" No ; in many sections in that State, and south of it, that species is 

 very plentiful, and it is now hunted a good deal by packs of beagles. In 

 localities where it is found there is hardly a patch of woods, of an acre 

 or two in extent, that does not contain some of these rabbits. It is chiefly 

 nocturnal in its habits, lying concealed during the day in its form beneath 

 a clump of bushes ; when pursued, it soon takes refuge beneath a rock, or 

 in a hole in the ground or ledge. It builds a nest of grass, and pulls fur 

 from its body to line it with ; in this the young are born, sometimes seven 

 or eight at a litter. The young leave the parent when quite small, — some- 

 times when but two or three weeks old. 



"The gray rabbit often visits the fields and orchards and does consid- 

 erable mischief in the vegetable garden, eating the tender plants of the 

 pease, beans, cabbages, and turnips. When startled it always stops and lis- 

 tens for a moment, sometimes regarding its visitor curiously, until a move- 

 ment from him frightens it, when with a quick, leaping run it disappears. 

 Its flesh is superior to that of the hare on the table." 



