244 POLAR HARE. 



of Labrador, and the wild mountain-sides of that desolate land, or to the 

 yet wilder and more sterile countries that extend from thence toward the 

 west, that we must resort, to find the large and beautiful Hare we have 

 now to describe ; and if we advance even to the highest latitude man has 

 ever reached, we shall still find the Polar Hare, though the mercury fall 

 below zero, and huge snow drifts impede our progress through the track- 

 less waste. 



Both Indians and trappers are occasionally relieved from almost certain 

 starvation by the existence of this Hare, which is found throughout the 

 whole range of country extending from the Eastern to the Western shores 

 of Northern America, and includes nearly thirty-five degrees of latitude, 

 from the extreme North to Newfoundland. 



In various parts of this thinly inhabited and unproductive region, the 

 Polar Hare, perhaps the finest of all the American hares, takes up its re- 

 sidence. It is covered in the long dark winter with a coat of warm fur, 

 so dense, that it cannot be penetrated by the rain and is an efiectual pro- 

 tection from the intense cold of the rigorous climate. 



Its changes of colour help to conceal it from the observation of its 

 enemies ; in summer it is nearly of the colour of the earth and the sur- 

 rounding rocks, and in winter it assumes a snow-white coat. The changes 

 it thus undergoes, correspond with the shortness of the summers and the 

 length of the Arctic winters. In the New England States the Northern 

 hare continues white for about five months, that being the usual duration 

 of the winters there ; but in the Arctic regions, where the summer lasts for 

 about three months only, whilst the earth during the remainder of the 

 year is covered -with snow, were the Polar Hare not to become white till 

 November, (the time when the Northern hare changes,) it would for two 

 months be exposed to the keen eyes of its greatest destroyers, the golden 

 eagle and the snowy ow^l, as its dark fur would be conspicuous on the 

 snow ; or were it to become brown in April, it would wear its summer 

 dress long before the earth had thrown off" its mantle of white, or a single 

 bud had peeped through the snow. 



The eye of the Polar Hare is adapted to the twilight that reigns during 

 a considerable part of the year within the Arctic circle ; in summer it 

 avoids the glare of the almost continual day-light, seeking the shade of 

 the little thickets of dwarfish trees that are scattered over the barren 

 grounds, the woods that skirt the streams, or the shelter of some over- 

 hanging rock. 



In addition to the circumstance that the eye of this Hare is well fitted 

 for seeing with a very moderate light, it may be remarked that in winter 

 the frequent and long continued luminous appearance of the heavens 



