HARES AND RABBITS 219 



worked with him, that the common hare of Germany, England, 

 and the south of Europe was a different animal from the mountain 

 hare. To the mountain hare, therefore, and hares in general, he 

 gave the name of Lefus timidus, but it is clear that in applying 

 this name he had his own indigenous mountain hare under 

 contemplation. Later but more discriminating zoologists applied 

 the adjective eunp^eus to the very distinct hare of Central and 

 Southern Europe. Then later Linnseus's specific name timidus was 

 applied to the common hare, while the mountain hare, on account 

 of its changes of colour, was called variabilis. Nowadays, with 

 some difficulty, zoologists have set the matter right by retaining 

 Linnasus's name {timidus) for the mountain hare, and styling the 

 species which will be next described europaus. 



The mountain hare agrees with the common hare in having 

 only two broods of young in the course of the year, in limiting 

 the number of young at a birth to five at the outside (often only 

 two), and in producing these young in a much more advanced 

 state of development than is the case with the rabbit, as they are 

 born covered with hair, with eyes open, and almost able to follow 

 their mother two days after birth. The number of mammae in 

 this and the common hare is five pairs. 



The mountain hare generally produces its young under the 

 shelter of an overarching tree trunk or root, or in a cranny or 

 sheltered crevice in the rocks. 



Its " form," or resting-place to which it resorts, is usually 

 between stones or on easily reached ledges of rock. In summer- 

 time it eats grass, leaves, roots, and bark ; during the winter, bark, 

 pines, and other seeds, and even lichens and moss. 



Lepus europaus. The Common Hare 



The Common Hare measures in adult male specimens about 

 21^ in. from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail ; and the 

 tail is about another 3^ in. long. The ears are about 4|- in. in 

 length, markedly longer than the head. They are rather tapering 

 towards the tip, which is black. The inside of the ear is some- 

 what naked. The tail is more developed than in the mountain 



