AMERICAN HARE. 277 



dyed light brown, black, etc., to be used as fur. The 

 usual price is Is. to Is. 6d. per dozen skins, but in some 

 years they have realized the high price of 6s. per dozen ; 

 in 1814 15s. per dozen was paid. 



The American Hare inhabits Newfoundland, Nova 

 Scotia, Manitoba, and the Hudson's Bay Territory, but 

 very few are found in Labrador. Its range is more 

 southern than that of the Polar Hare. The Albany 

 skins are the best. 



Dr. Eichardson (*' Northern Zoology," p. 217) says 

 regarding the habits of this animal : " The American 

 Hare does not burrow. In the northern districts it 

 resides mostly in willow thickets, or in woods where 

 willows or dwarf birch constitute much of the under- 

 wood. The bark of the willow forms a great part of its 

 food in the winter, but in the summer it eats grass and 

 other vegetables. It is reported to do much damage in 

 cultivated districts, to fields of cabbage or turnips." 



This Hare is closely allied to the Varying Hare of 

 Scotland, and is probably the American type of the same 

 species. 



VAEYING HAKE. 



Lepus variabilis. 



The Varying, called also the Blue or Mountain Hare, 

 is smaller than the English Hare ; its weight is also 

 less, the ears are shorter, and its flesh is not of such 

 excellency. It is larger than the American Hare, which 

 it somewhat resembles, especially in the similarity of 

 appearance to a Eabbit. 



The fur is brown in summer, and turns a whitish hue 

 in December. It inhabits Scotland and Ireland, where 



