THE HAKE. 



with a vhite tail. It makes a nest or lied of moss or leavee 

 in some hollow tree or old log, whence it issues chiefly at night. 

 T&ough not so much addicted to gnawing as the squirrels, yet, 

 as its teeth are formed in the same manner, it probably resem- 

 bles them in its food, eating various kinds of nuts and seeds, 

 as well as green herbs. It is said also occasionally to pe?l off 

 the bark from apple and other trees. A singular mode of 

 taking furred animals out of logs, hollow trees, &c., is prac- 

 tised in the South, called ' twisting.' I once saw it per- 

 formed on a rabbit (so called). The dogs had tracked him, and 

 driven him to his hole at the bottom of a hickory -tree. The 

 hole was -too small to admit the hunter's hand with conve- 

 nience, so we made the negroes cut down the tree, which was 

 soon accomplished. When it fell, we watched the hole to sea 

 that the rabbit did not run out, but he did not make his ap- 

 pearance. The hunter then got some long slender switches, and 

 probing the hollow, found that the rabbit was at the further 

 end, several feet up the trunk. He now commenced turning 

 the switch round in one direction a great many times, until 

 the top of it had become so entangled in the animal's fur as 

 to bear a strong pull. He then began to pull steadily out, 

 but the rabbit held on as well as he could, and made consider- 

 able resistance, crying most piteously Uke a child ; at last tlie 

 skin gave way, and a great mass of fur and skin came out 

 attadied to the switch, pulled off by main force. He now took a 

 new switch, and commenced twisting again, and this time pulled 

 the little thing down ; but the skin was torn almost completely 

 off the loins, and so tightly twisted round the end of tto 

 sticks that they were forced to cut it to set the poor animal 

 free." 



There exist several animals of the Rodent genus that have 

 little or nothing of the " hare" about them but the name. 

 Such are the Calling hare, the Ogotona hare, and the Cape 

 hare. The first of these is a little animal barely so large as a 

 rat, inhabiting the deserts of Chinese Tartaty. It burrows like 

 the rabbit, and constructs a warm nest at a httle depth from 

 the surface. They are curiously prudential in their habits, 

 and not only at the fall of the year accumulate various herbs 

 against hard times, but — or the accounts of travellers are not 

 worthy of credit — " construct hemispherical ricks of hay ^ibout 

 a foot high for their support during the inclement season." 



The (vaUing hare somewhat resembles the Ogotona, but is 

 even smaUer. Its head is comparatively longer than the true 



