GNAWERS. 



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shelter in places that afford them neither a warm sun, nor an 

 agreeable pasture. When full grown it is larger than the rabbit, 

 and exceedingly like that animal, but its color is slightly different, 

 and the black spot on the extremity of its ears is a simple method 

 of distinguishing it. The hare does not burrow like the rabbit, 

 but makes a kind of nest of grass and other materials. In this 

 nest, called a " form," the hare lies, crouching to the ground, its 

 cars laid along its back, and, trusting to its concealment, it will often 



remain quiet until the foot of an intruder almost touches it. Many 

 people can distinguish it when thus hidden by the sparkle of its 

 eye. The soil and climate have their influence upon this animal 

 as well as on most others. In the countries bordering on the north 

 pole, they become white in winter, and are often seen in great 

 troops of four or five hundred, running along the banks of the 

 river Irtish, or the Jenisca, and are white as the snow they tread 

 on. They are caught in traps for the sake of their skins. 



Rabbits of the domestic breed, like all other animals that 

 are under the protection of man, are of various colors, white, 



