. MAMMALIA—HARE. 255 
ported, that it is no longer possible to extirpate them, and no small art is 
required in order to diminish their number. Some species of hares are 
migratory. They move, in flocks of five or six hundred, and often to a great 
distance, in search of food. 
In those districts in England, which are reserved for the chase, four or five 
hundred hares are killed in the course of perhaps one day’s sport. These 
animals multiply amazingly; they are in a condition to engender in all 
seasons, and before the first year of their life is expired. The females do 
not go above thirty or thirty-one days with their young. 
The young ones are brought forth with their eyes open; the mother 
suckles them for the space of twenty days; after which they separate them- 
selves from her, and provide for their own subsistence. They do not with- 
draw themselves far from each other, nor from the place where they first 
drew breath; yet they live in solitude, and each composes for itself a form, 
at a little distance, perhaps sixty or eighty paces. Thus, when we find a 
young leveret in one place, we are almost sure of finding one or two more 
in the neighborhood. They feed more by night than by day; and their 
favorite articles of provision, are herbs, roots, leaves, fruit, and grain, but, 
above all, such plants as yield a milky. juice. They even eat the bark of 
trees in winter. When they are reared at home, they are fed with lettuce 
d roots ; but the flesh of these domestic hares is always of a bad flavor. 
Hares sleep much, but always with their eyes open. They have no eye- 
iashes, and seem to have but bad eyes. ‘The eyes, however, are so promi- 
nent, that they can see both before and behind. Their hearing is exceeding- 
ly acute, and their ears are very large, compared with the size of their body. 
They move these long ears with great facility, and use them as a helm, in 
order to direct their course, which is so rapid, that they easily outstrip all 
other animals. As their fore legs are much shorter than their hind legs, 
they can more easily ascend than descend; for which reason, when they 
are pursued, their first object is to gain, if possible, some mountain. Their 
motion in running, is a kind of gallop; they proceed without making any 
noise, because their feet are plentifully covered with hair, even underneath ; 
and perhaps they are the only animals which have hair growing within 
their mouths. . 
Hares live not above seven or eight years. They pass their lives in 
solitude and in silence ; and never are known to exert their voice, but when 
they are forcibly laid hold of, tormented, or wounded. They are by no 
means so wild, as, by their habits, might be supposed; they are gentle, and 
susceptible of a species of improvement. As they have a good ear, as they 
rest on their hind feet of their own accord, and use their fore legs like arms, 
some have been so tutored as to beat a drum, to gesticulate in cadence, &c. 
Hares may be domesticated, and they then display sagacity, affection, and 
ny small share of curiosity. Cowper, the poet, has given an amusing 
acount of three of them, which he kept for some years. 
