HAEES. 45 



and began to possess the land as if the promise 

 that "the meek shall inherit the earth" was 

 intended only for themselves. They grew into 

 vast armies, eating every green thing that 

 seemed good for them. In spite of guns, and 

 dogs, and fences by the thousands of miles, 

 they could not be kept within bounds. Now 

 they are killed and dressed wholesale and re- 

 turned to England for food purposes. 



Our species is not a rabbit, but a hare. There 

 are no rabbits in America, but tame ones 

 brought here for pets. They belong to the 

 same family or group, called Leporidce, but 

 there are marked differences in structure. Rab- 

 bits have shorter ears and shorter hinder legs 

 than hares. Rabbits bring forth their young 

 naked in underground burrows, while hares 

 give birth to fur-covered young in open " forms " 

 or partially exposed coverts. As a family the 

 hares are widely distributed, even extending far 

 up into the treeless polar regions, where they 

 manage to subsist on the dwarf Arctic vegeta- 

 tion. There are about twenty-five species in all 

 the world. 



I notice that our "rabbits," as we will call 

 them, are evidently on the lookout for enemies, 

 that may at any time attack them. Owls, 

 hawks, wild-cats, foxes, and weasels are all dis- 



