POLAR HARE. 245 



caused by the aurora borealis, together with the brightness of the unsul- 

 lied snow, afford a sufficient degree of light for it to proceed with its cus- 

 tomary occupations. 



During the summer this species is found on the borders of thickets, or 

 in stony or rocky places. In winter it is often seen in the barren and 

 open country, where only a few stunted shrubs and clumps of spruce fir, 

 {Abies rubra,) afford it shelter, differing in this habit from the Northern 

 hare, which confines itself to thick woods throughout the year, avoiding 

 cleared fields and open ground. 



Captain Ross says of the Polar Hare, " There is scarcely a spot in the 

 Arctic regions, the most desolate and sterile that can be conceived, where 

 this animal is not to be found, and that too, throughout the winter ; nor 

 does it seek to shelter itself from the inclemency of the w^eather by bur- 

 rowing in the snow, but is found generally sitting solitarily under the lee 

 of a large stone, where the snow drift as it passes along, seems in some 

 measure to afford a protection from the bitterness of the blast that impels 

 it, by collecting around and half burying the animal beneath it." 



The food of this species varies with the season. Hearne tells us that 

 " in winter it feeds on long rye-grass and the tops of dwarf willows, but 

 in summer it eats berries and different sorts of small herbage." 



According to Richaedson, " it seeks the sides of the hills, where the 

 wind prevents the snow from lodging deeply, and where even in the win- 

 ter it can procure the berries of the Alpine arbutus, the bark of some 

 dwarf willows, {Salix,) or the evergreen leaves of the Labrador tea- 

 plant," {Ledum latifolium.) Captain Lyon, in his private journal has 

 noted that on the barren coast of Winter Island, the Hares went out on 

 the ice to the ships, to feed on the tea-leaves thrown overboard by the 

 sailors." 



The Polar Hare is not a very shy or timid animal, but has on being ap- 

 proached much the same habits as the Northern hare. " It merely runs 

 to a little distance, (says Richardson,) and sits doviTi, repeating this man- 

 oeuvre as often as its pursuer comes nearly within gun-shot, until it is 

 thoroughly scared by his perseverance, when it makes off. It is not dif- 

 ficult to get within bow-shot of it by walking round it and gradually con- 

 tracting the circle — a method much practised by the Indians." Hearne 

 had previously made the same observations ; he says also, " the middle 

 of the day, if it be clear weather, is the best time to kill them in this 

 manner, for before and after noon the sun's altitude being so small, makes 

 a man's shadow so long on the snow as to frighten the Hare before he 

 can approach near enough to kill it. The same may be said of deer when 



