ORDER RODENTIA. 165 



hinder legs of twice the length of the fore pair. Its very 

 remarkable gait is occasioned by this disproportion of legs, 

 as it moves, at least when in haste, only by long leaps or 

 bounds. From this circumstance, and its resemblance in 

 several particulars to a Hare, it has obtained from the 

 Dutch Colonists a name signifying Leaping Hare. Its ears, 

 however, have more resemblance to those of a Cat than of a 

 Hare ; but the two long front teeth in each jaw, and its 

 leaping motion, plainly prove its close affinity to the latter. 

 Its fore feet, which are little more than two inches in length, 

 are provided with very long hooked claws, better adapted 

 for holding its food than for burrowing in the ground, and 

 have every appearance of not being used for the latter pur- 

 pose: on the contrary, the hinder legs, which are nearly ten 

 inches long, are furnished with extraordinary large and 

 strong nails which might almost be called hoofs, and which 

 seem to be used only for scratching away the earth, for which 

 office they are well suited, although such an application of 

 the hind legs is a singular anomaly, and not easily to be 

 explained, without a more complete knowledge of their 

 mode of life. In this manner it does in fact use them 

 dexterously and expeditiously, making deep burrows, in 

 which it lies concealed all day. As it comes out to feed 

 only by night, it is an animal not so well known from its 

 form and appearance as from its operations. It inhabits the 

 neighbourhood of mountains, whose rocky sides afford them 

 a greater protection than the plains, where they may be 

 easily overtaken by Dogs or other carnivorous animals. 

 No construction can be better suited for ascending, or any 

 worse for descending a steep. There must, therefore, one 

 would imagine, be some singular management on the part 

 of an animal so formed, and at the same time inhabiting 

 such places. It is sometimes, though less frequently, called 

 the Berg-haas (Mountain Hare.) 



