THE HASE. 



for home, rather than take advantage of any nearer sMellei 

 that may present itself. 



It is a very prolific animal, breeding almost as mauv tirnea 

 in the year as the rabbit, and producing three or four yoiing 

 ones at a birth. The eyes of the young are open at 1 irttx. 

 They remain with their mother about twenty days, dunng 

 which time she suckles them ; and after that they start lU 

 business on their own account. The food of the hare consitsts 

 of herbage of almost every kind ; bat it prefers vegetables or a 

 milky and succulent nature, and, like the rabbit, is very fond ofl 

 parsley. They are by no means desirable as neighbours, eane- 

 cidHy to vegetable and com growers. The havoc a hnndrBil or 

 to ot visitors from a " preserve" wiU make in a field of ntiwiv- 

 sprung wheat, in a single night, is incredible ; indeed, mary 

 extensive farms, owing to their contiguity to a preserve, are 

 woiih a less rental by fuUy half on that account. 



The hare does not burrow like the rabbit, but scrapes out a 

 Blieht depression, so that when she Ues in it half-buried in ea.rth 

 and dried herbage, it is a very difiicult matter to distinguish 

 tuT. In countries, however, where the snow Ues deep in wintur, 

 the animal displays considerable ingenuity in making herself 

 a comfortable domicile. " She does not attempt," says Mr. 

 Wood, " to leave her form as the snow falls heavily around 

 her, but only pushes it backwards and forwards by the move- 

 ments of her body, so as to leave a small space between herself 

 and the snow. By degrees the feathery flakes are formed into 

 a kind of domed chamber, which entirely encloses the inhabit- 

 ant, with the exception of a little round hole, which is preserved 

 by the warm breath, and which serves as a ventilating aper- 

 ture. This air-hole is often the means of her destruction as 

 well as of her safety ; for the scent which issues from the aper- 

 ture betrays her presence to the keen nostrils of the dogs whioh 

 accompany the solitary hare-hunter, and which are trained to 

 search for these air-holes, and stand sentinels over them until 

 their master arrives and captures the hidden victim." 



The hare pairs in February, and very seldom migrates far 

 from the spot where it is born. It seldom utters any crv. and 

 when it does it is a shrill and sharp noise like that of a baby 

 suddenly hurt. As to the charge of timidity so constantly 

 brought against it, it is more than doubtful if it deserves iL 

 Sorely the fact of its taking fright at the tramping of an array 

 oE ho. Hen:<sn and a troop of dogs is no proof of cowardice. i!be 

 ouiy proot of a man's pluck is as compared with that ui ois 



