30 THE BOOK OF NATURE STUDY 



be noted from the rabbit, not only in its larger size and different 

 coloration, but also in its much longer legs. This latter char- 

 acter is associated with the very different mode of life led by 

 the two species. The rabbit is gregarious, living in colonies 

 underground known as warrens and, straying but a short 

 distance from home, needs no great powers of speed. The hare, 

 on the other hand, leads a solitary life, and does not burrow, 

 but spends the day crouching in some sheltered spot known 

 as its " form." When danger threatens, it endeavours to evade 

 discovery by crouching close to the ground, which in its color- 

 ation it commonly resembles. Should this device fail it resorts 



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to flight, and develops on such occasions marvellous powers 

 of speed and endurance. And there is another striking difference 

 between the hare and the rabbit, which must be set down to 

 the very different habits of the two animals. This concerns 

 the very different condition of the young at birth. Young 

 rabbits, snugly tucked away in a warm burrow, are born blind 

 and naked, and remain helpless for some time. Young hares, 

 which have to put up with a nursery liable at any moment to 

 discovery by prowling enemies, are born thickly clad and with 

 their eyes open, and are soon able to run about. 



Before leaving the subject of rodents a word should be said 

 about rats, since these furnish a very instructive lesson as to the 

 way in which one animal may displace another over large areas. 



The rat now universally met with throughout the British 

 Islands is the brown rat, or, as it is sometimes but erroneously 

 called, the Hanoverian rat and the Norway rat. This pest is 

 believed to have come originally from Chinese Mongolia, from 

 whence it has spread, by man's agency, all over the civilised world, 

 travelling in ships and merchandise. It seems to have gained a 

 footing into this country somewhere about 1728 or 1729, meeting 

 on its arrival with the smaller, native black rat, which it has now 

 almost completely exterminated, though a few of this indigenous 

 species are still to be met with at sea-port towns, such as Great 

 Yarmouth, in Norfolk ; and in Liverpool. The migration of this 

 large and more aggressive species from Central Asia is well attested, 

 for large hordes were seen migrating westwards about the year 

 1727, when, crossing the Volga, they quickly populated the whole 



