348 SIMPLICIDENTATA— MUSCARDINIDiE 



I have observed the same propensity and can thoroughly 

 corroborate Thompson, although I have not seen so many 

 hares together as he did. Probably it is the natural 

 consequence of the animals being very numerous. 



The scream of the Irish Hare when in pain has not been 

 distinguished from that of other species.^ When newly captured 

 and frightened or annoyed it is almost as noisy as a little pig. 



The food of this species is not peculiar. Like the Brown 

 Hare it destroys the bark of trees, and is fond of the tender 

 shoots of many conifers. Thompson states that it has a 

 predilection for the bark of the oak and that, if it visits a 

 garden, the delicate leaves of pinks and carnations are, 

 together with parsley and young plants of cabbage, broccoli, 

 and cauliflower, its favourites. 



Its flesh is always accounted excellent for the table. 



SIMPLICIDENTATA. 



These, the great majority of rodents, are characterised by the 

 possession of a single pair of upper incisors, the enamel of 

 which is confined to the anterior surfaces. The distance 

 between the maxillary and mandibular tooth-rows being 

 approximately equal, the motion of the jaws in eating is 

 longitudinal or oblique. The incisive foramina are distinct, 

 and not posteriorly confluent, and the bony palate is never 

 reduced to a narrow bridge between the premolars. The 

 fibulae do not articulate with their calcanea. 



MUSCARDINIDtE. 



DORMICE. 



These are small animals of rat- or mouse-like appearance 

 and wide distribution, mostly in warm countries, from England 

 to Japan and from central Sweden through Africa. They are 

 unknown in America, either in past or recent times. They 



' Thompson Seton's description (i., 66 1) of the "loud coarse squealing" of a 

 captured Prairie Hare {Lepus campestris) as being not unlike the "caw, caw, caw" 

 of a crow, is good also for the Irish Hare. 



