LEPUS. 451 



vatioii, amougst grass and bushes. It is common in many parts of 

 JN'orthern India, is often shot and occasionally coursed with grey- 

 hounds. When pursued it not unfrequently takes refuge in a 

 fox's hole or some other burrow. In more than one instance, I 

 have found a single foetus in the female ; Hodgson, however, found 

 two and states that this is the number of young generally produced 

 at a birth. 



The flesh is not so good as that of the European hare, though 

 much of the usual inferiority is probably due to cookery. When 

 jugged this hare is by no means unpalatable. 



321. Lepus dayanus. The Sind Hare. 



Lepus dayanus, Blanford, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 663. 



Lepus joongsbaiensis, Murray, Vertebrate Zoohfjy of Sind, p. 51. 



Sassa, SaJw, Seher, Siudhi. 



Ears thinly clad. Eur very soft. In the skull the nasals 

 are shorter and much less bent over anteriorly at the sides than in 

 L. rujicaudatus. 



Colour abov'e light greyish brown mixed with black ; breast and 

 limbs pale rufescent, lower parts except the breast white. Dorsal 

 fur at base light grey to creamy white, paler posteriorly, beyond 

 the middle of each hair is a black ring, then a whitish space, the 

 tip being black. Tail blackish brown above. Eace-stripes whitish ; 

 around eyes white. Margin of ear near the tip blackish brown 

 outside, buff inside. 



Dimensions. Head and body 17 inches, tail with hair 4, without 

 hair 2*75, ear from crown 4*5, hind foot and tarsus 4 ; basal length 

 of skull 2-75, zygomatic breadth 1"6. 



Distribution. JSiud and Cutcli, with the greater part of the Indian 

 desert east of the Indus, probably also the Derajat in the Punjab. 



Habits. Similar to those of L. rujicaudatus. This is, however, 

 more of a desert form. It is much greyer than L. rujicaudatus 

 and at once distinguished by its soft fur, and by the upper surface 

 of the tail being blackish brown instead of rufous. 



322. Lepus peguensis. The Burmese Hare. 



Lepus sinensis, Bhjth, J. A. S. B. xxi, p. 359, nee Gray. 

 Lepus peguensis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xxiv, p. 471 (185.3) ; id. Cat. 

 p. 132 ; id. Mam. Birds Burma, p. 43. 



Ymi, Phu-goung, Burmese. 



Colour above rufous mixed with black, below white, the two 

 colours well defined, not passing into each other. Dorsal fur pale 

 grey or white at the base, then black, terminal portion fulvous 

 brown with black tips. Tail black above. Towards the rump there 

 is sometimes a strong ashy tinge on the back. A large blackish 

 terminal patch on the posterior outer surface of each ear. 



Dimevsion'i. Head and body 21 inches, tail with hair 4, ear 4-25, 



