140 FOUR-FOOTEI) AMERICANS 



out until the second clay after a snowstorm. We 

 haven't tmie to stop for you to look for them, but we 

 shall find plenty more at the mountain." 



" Rabbits are rather common everywhere in America, 

 aren't the}" ? " asked Rap. 



" Yes, some member of the family is to be found 

 everywhere, from the Polar Hare of the Barren Grounds 

 to the Jack Rabbit of the hot sand-deserts of Texas 

 and the southern half of tlie entire West." 



" You call some Rabbits and others Hares. What is 

 the difference between a Rabbit and a Hare ? Don't 

 they belong to the same family ? " asked Nat. 



" Perhaps they work in different guilds," ventured 

 Rap. 



" No," said the Doctor, " they all belong to the long- 

 eared, short-tailed gnawers, with the patent-jumping 

 hind legs. The difference is, beside size, that little 

 Hares are born in grassy nests with fur on and their 

 eyes open ; while little Rabbits are naked and blind and 

 are born in burrows. All our species are Hares. The 

 Rabbits that House People keep sometimes as pets, 

 are true Raljbits, children of European parents, and 

 not American fourfoots, though we still continue to 

 call our Hares, Rabbits, the same as we call Bisons, 

 Buffaloes." 



" See, there goes a common Rabbit now ! " cried Rap. 

 " How he bobs along and then stops and sits up ; do 

 stop a second. Rod. He's looking at something by that 

 tree and doesn't hear our wheels, because of the snow ! " 



" ^Vhat queer tracks he makes," said Nat. "I 

 thought the two big marks were made by his fore 

 feet ; they look as if he hopped backward, but he 



