T 



CHAPTER II. 

 HOUGH the continent of North America furnishes 



numerous species of hares, it is nevertheless en- 

 tirely without the true rabbit, notwithstanding that 

 many of the above are invariably so called. 



Such confusion of two species, so plainly separated 

 one from the other, by external characteristics, can only 

 have arisen from the most careless observation. 



Independently of size and colour, the hare is easily 

 distinguished from the rabbit by the greater comparative 

 length of its ears and feet, in which latter, by the way, 

 there is also a slight osteological divergence. The rabbit 

 burrows, while the hare always makes its "form" above 

 ground ; the latter is solitary, and the former gre- 

 garious; and the young of the hare are born with their 

 eyes open and their bodies clothed Avith fur, while 

 those of the rabbit are blind for nine days after their 

 birth and are during that period entirely destitute of 

 hair. 



The common Hare of Canada, or Northern Hare 



