NORTHERN HARE. 105 



vol. Ixii., p. 376. Magnitudine medius inter L. cuniculum et timidum Al- 

 pinum, (sc. L. timidus, Foester, Phil. Trans, vol. Ixii., p. 375.) Auricu- 

 lanum et caudae apices perpetuo grisei — Pedes postici longiores quam 

 in L. timido et cuniculo, color griseo-fuscus ; Hieme in frigidioribus 

 albus. 



" Habitat in America boreali ad fretum Iludsoni copiosissimus, noctur- 

 nus. Non foedit, degit sub arborum radicibus, inque cavis arboribus. 

 Parit bis vel semel in anno ; pullos quinque ad septem ; caro bona, colore 

 L. tiraidi." 



In great deference, we would submit whether the above is not more 

 than a " vague indication " of a species. To us it appears a tolerably full 

 description for the era in which the author lived, and considering the 

 few species of Hare then known. 



There were at that early period but three Hares with which natural- 

 ists were familiar: — L. timidus, the common European Hare ; L. variabilis, 

 the variable Hare ; and L. cuniculus, the European burrowing rabbit. With 

 these, Ersleben compares this species in size and colour. With the excep- 

 tion of one of the habits he mentions, this description appears to us cre- 

 ditable to him. There have been many occasions, when, perplexed in guess- 

 ing at the species intended to be described by old authors, (the Father of na- 

 tural history, Linn^us himself, not excepted,) we would have hailed a de- 

 scription like this, as a light in darkness. The species Erxleben had in view 

 cannot be mistaken ; he describes it very correctly as " magnitudine medius 

 inter L. cuniculum et limidum Alpinum." Our American gray rabbit, in- 

 stead of being intermediate between L. cuniculus and the Alpine hare, is 

 smaller than either. " Pedes postici longiores quam in L. timido et cuni- 

 culo." The long hind-feet are distinctive marks of the Northern Hare ; 

 but those of our gray rabbit are much shorter than those of L. timidus, or 

 common hare of Europe. " Hieme in frigidioribus albus." Our gray rab- 

 bit, contrary to the assertion of most authors, does not become white in 

 winter in any latitude. " Habitat in America boreali ad fretum Hudsoni 

 copiosissimus." Dr. Richardson, and every Northern traveller with whom 

 we have conversed, have assured us, that our gray rabbit does not exist at 

 Hudson's Bay, where the Northern Hare is quite abundant, and where 

 that, and the Polar hare, (the last named species existing still further 

 North,) are the only species to be found. We have examined and com- 

 pared the original specimen described by Dr. Richardson, and also those in 

 the British Museum that have successively replaced the specimens first 

 sent to England, and find that they all belong to this species. In fact 

 our gray rabbit is very little known in England or Scotland ; since, after 

 an examination of all the principal Museums in those countries, we met 



15 



