114 vehtebrates. 



Poland, Siberia, and Canada, where it is known under different 

 names. When taken young it is tamed more easily than any other 

 wild animal, and almost as perfectly as a-ny of those that are do- 

 mestic. It is readily taught to dance, to wield a cudgel, and to 

 obey the voice of its master. Like the cat, it has an antipathy to 

 the dog ; and when it becomes familiar to the family, and is sure 

 of being supported by its master, it attacks and bites even the 

 largest mastiff. From its squat, muscular make, it has great 

 strength joined to great agility. It has four large cutting teeth, 

 like all those of the hare kind, but it uses them to much more ad- 

 vantage, since in this animal they are very formidable weapons of 

 defence. However, it is in general a very inoffensive animal ; and, 

 except its enmity to dogs, seems to live in friendship with every 

 creature, unless when provoked. If not prevented, it is very apt 

 to gnaw the furniture of a house, and even to make holes through 

 strong wooden partitions ; hence, perhaps, it has been compared to 

 the rat. As its legs are very short, and made somewhat like those 

 of a bear, it is often seen sitting up, and even walking on its hind 

 legs in like manner ; but with the fore-paws it feeds itself in the 

 manner of a squirrel. Like all of the hare kind, it runs much 

 swifter up hill than down ; it climbs trees with great ease, and runs 

 up the clifts of rocks or the contiguous walls of houses with great 

 faoUity. It is ludicrously said that the Savoyards, who are the 

 only chimney-sweepers of Paris, have learned this art from the 

 Marmot, which is bred in the same country. 



Hares are divided, by hunters, into mountain and measled 

 hares. The former are more swift, vigorous, and have the flesh 

 better tasted; the latter chiefly frequent the marshes, and when 

 hunted keep among low grounds ; their flesh is moist, white, and 

 flabby. When the male and female keep one particular spot, they 

 will not suffer any strange hare to make its form in the same 

 quarter, so that it is usually said, that the more you hunt, the 

 more hares you shall have; for, having killed one hare, others 

 come and take possession of its form. Many of these animals are 

 found to live in woods and thickets, but they are naturally fonder 

 of the open country, and are constrained only by fear, to take' 



