NORTHERN HARE. 101 



cat." We ascertained it to be a Nortliern Hare, in its summer dress, and 

 although its captor had not been able to distinguish it from the gray 

 rabbit by its colour, he certainly had had a practical lesson in natural 

 history, which he did not soon forget. 



A living individual of this species, which we have in Charleston in 

 a partially domesticated state, for the purpose of trying to ascertain the 

 effect of a vv^arm climate on its changes of colour, is particularly cross 

 w^hen approached by a stranger. It raises its fur, and springs at the in- 

 truder with almost a growl, and is ready with its claws and teeth to gratify 

 its rage, and inflict a wound on the person who has aroused its ire. 

 When thus excited, it reminded us by its attitudes of an angry racoon. 



The skin of the Northern Hare is so tender and easily torn, and the fur 

 is so apt to be spoiled and drop off on being handled, that it is difficult to 

 prepare perfect specimens for the naturalist's cabinet. The pelt is not in 

 much request among the furriers, and is regarded by the hatter as of 

 little value. The hind-feet, however, are used by the latter in a part of 

 the process by which the soft, glossy, surface is imparted to his fabric, 

 and answer the purpose of a soft hat-brush. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 



This species is found in portions of the British possessions, as far as the 

 sixty-eighth parallel of North latitude. It is, however, confined to the 

 Eastern portion of our Continent ; Richardson, who represents it as " a 

 common animal from one extremity of the Continent to the other," seems 

 to have mistaken for it another species which replaces it on the North 

 West coast. Although it does not range as far to the North as the 

 Polar hare, it is decidedly a Northern species ; it is found at Hudson's 

 Bay, in Newfoundland, Canada, all the New-England States, and in the 

 Northern portions of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Mr. Doughty 

 informed us that he had procured a specimen on the Alleghany Mountains 

 in the Northern part of Virginia, Lat. 40° 29', where it had never before 

 been observed by the inhabitants. On seeking for it afterwards in the 

 locality from which he obtained it, we were unsuccessful, and we are in- 

 clined to believe that it is only occasionally that some straggler ^vanders 

 so far South among these mountains, and that its Southern limit may be 

 set down at about 41". 



GENERAL REMARKS. 



The history of this Hare has been attempted from time to time, by 

 early and recent travellers and naturalists, and most of their accounts of 



