342 LEAVIS'S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



the way of fur, their eyes shut up and their ear-flaps even closed ; 

 their bodies also are soft and delicate, and their limbs feeble ; in 

 fact, the litter is entirely dependent upon the anxious care of its 

 parent for protection and support for a considerable time after 

 birth. 



The flesh also of the hare and rabbit is quite dissimilar ; the 

 former when boiled is dark, the latter white ; there is also a game- 

 flavor about the one that the other does not possess. 



The rabbit is a lively, frolicsome little animal, delighting to pop 

 in and out of its burrow at all hours of the day, to bask for a few 

 moments in the sun and collect something to eat, and then away 

 at the slightest token of alarm to the depths of its subterranean 

 abode. 



The hare is a timid, lonely creature, sitting motionless for hours, 

 crouched up within its form, — a mere space the size of the animal 

 upon the open ground, — or perhaps snugly stowed away under a pile 

 of brush, stones, or rubbish of any description whatever. 



The rabbit, when pursued by dogs, takes to his burrow as the 

 only secure refuge. 



The hare, on the contrary, trusts in a great measure to his speed 

 and cunning to insure his safety ; and when pursued by dogs the 

 American species resort to the same method of escaping from their 

 enemies as the English variety, — that is, doubling. The construc- 

 tion of the hind-legs is also the same in the one as in the other, 

 being not less than ten inches in length, which is large in proportion 

 to the size of the body ; those of the rabbit are much smaller. 



The American hare has from three to five young at a litter, 

 sometimes six, and rarely seven. If it were not for the wonderful 

 fecundity of this animal, the whole race would soon become extinct, 

 from the constant and never-ceasing depredations of its numerous 

 enemies. Nature, however, wise in all her plans, compensates for 

 the waste on one side by an extraordinary fruitfulness on the other, 

 thus balancing the losses from destruction by that of reproduction, 

 in a ratio which is always sufficient to insure the prolonged exist- 

 ence of the race. 



