26 TOVVNSEND'S ROCKY MOUNTAIN HARE. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Body, long and slender ; head, much arched ; eyes large ; ears, long ; 

 tail very long, (compared with others of the genus,) in proportion to the 

 size of the animal ; legs long and slender ; tarsus very long. The whole 

 conformation of this animal is indicative of great speed. 



Crown of the head, cheeks, neck, whole upper parts, and the front of 

 the ears and legs, externall)% gray ; with a faint cream-coloured tinge. 

 Hair, on back and sides, whitish, or silver gray, at the roots, followed by 

 bro\vnish-white, which is succeeded by black, subdued gradually to a 

 faint yellowish-white, and finall}' tipped ^vith black, interspersed with long 

 silky hairs, some of which are black from their roots. On the chin, 

 throat, under surface, interior of legs, and the tail, (with the exception of 

 a narrow dark Line running longitudinally on the top,) the hair is pure 

 white from the roots. Irides light hazel ; around the eyes white ; back 

 part of the tips of the ears black ; external two-thirds of the hinder part 

 of the ears white, running down to the back part of the neck, and then 

 blending with the colour of the upper surface ; anterior third of the outer 

 portion of the ear, the same gray colour as the back, fringed on the edge 

 with long hairs, which are reddish fawn colour at the roots and white at 

 the tips ; interior of the ear very thinly covered with beautiful fine white 

 hairs, being more thickly clothed near the edge, where it is grizzlj-black 

 and yellowish ; edge, fringed with pure white, becoming yellowish toward 

 the tip, and at the tip black. Moustaches for the most part white, black 

 at the roots, a few hairs are pure white, others wholly black. 



The specimen which was described and first published in the Transac- 

 tions of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, was a female, 

 procured by J. K. Tottssexd, Esq., on the Walla- Walla, one of the sources 

 of the Columbia river. 



Another specimen now in our possession, the dimensions of which are 

 given below, is in summer pelage, having been obtained on the 9th June. 

 There is scarcely a shade of diiference in its general colour, although the 

 points of many of the hairs are yellowish-white, instead of being tipped 

 with black, as in the specimen obtained by ISIr. Townsexd. There is also 

 a white spot on the forehead. The young is a miniature of the adult ; 

 We observe no other differences than that the colour is a little lighter, 

 and the tail pure white. 



