23 4 MAMMALIA. GLIRES. Hare. 



Inhabits the Altaic chain of mountains, to the extremity of Afia, and beyond the Lena and Teni- 

 fei.— Dwells in the moft rugged and inacceffible fhHves of the mountains, forming burrows in the 

 clefts of the rocks, or living in the hollow trunks of decayed trees ; in thefe it lies during the day, 

 except in cloudy weather, when it collects into f nail flocks on the rocks ; the voice or cry refembles 

 a loud whiffle. In the month of Auguft they cut down great quantities of foft tender grids and 

 other herbs, chiefly the Gramen fylvaticum, which they fpread out to dry, and in .September they 

 collect this hay into regular conical ricks round the trunk of a tree, or place it in heaps under the 

 fhelter of rocks ; thefe are covered by the fnow in winter, and the animals form a trodden path 

 from their holes to the magazine by which they go to feed : Sometimes thefe ricks are as high as a 

 man, and many, feet diameter ; but ufually they are only about three feet ; they are often of vaft 

 fervice to the hunters, as provender for their horfes, which would otherwife fometimes perifh in 

 thofe inhofpitablc regions, for want of food. The Mountain Hare is preyed on by Sables and Sibe- 

 rian tVeafels, and is much infefted by the Oeftrus leporinus, a fpecies of gad-fly, which lodges its 

 eggs in their fkins, and often deftroys them. The general appearance of this animal is more dull 

 and wilder than the Calling Hare ; the body is fhorter and more big bellied-; the head is longer and 

 more flender, with large, broad, but fhort, rounded ears, very long whifkers, and fmall black ey-s ■ 

 the under parts of the body are of a dirtier white ; the female has two teats on the groin, and four 

 on the breaft ; the upper part of the throat is fomewhat aih coloured ; the fur of the body is duiky 

 at the roots, and of a bright ferruginous or bay colour at the ends, flightly tipt with white and 

 intermixed with long dufky hairs ; but at firft fight feems of a bright unmixed bay colour. It va- 

 ries in fize from feven to nine and a half inches long, and weighs from one pound and a quarter to 

 four ounces. 



° l 9 15. Ogotona Hare. — 12. Lepus Ogotona. 12. 



Has oblong, oval, fomewhat pointed ears, of the fame colour wich the body, which is 

 pale grey ; no tail. Schreber, iv. t. ccxxxix. 



Lepus Ogotona. Palla-, Glir. 30. 59. 70. t. 3. and t. 4. f. 14. 16. — Ogotona Hare. Penn. hill, 

 of quad. n. 249. — Muftela mungalica, Mongalian Weafel, or Ochodona mungalica, of MefTerfch- 

 mid; with a fhort body, and having no tail. Cat. muf. Petrop. i. 343. n. 112. 



Inhabits the mountains beyond Lake Baikal, and all Mongalia, efpecially the great defert of Gobi. — 

 This animal dwells fometimes in rocky places among heaps of ftones, or forms burrows in fandy pla- 

 ces with two or three entrances ; thefe are dug in an oblique direction, and the old females, for fe- 

 curity, form many of thefe near and connected together. They go about moftly at night ; the voice 

 is exceedingly fharp and clamarous, fomewhat like the chirp of a fparrow, twice or thrice repeated, 

 but very eafily diftinguifhed from that of the preceding fpecies ; they feed moftly on the bark of the 

 Pyrus baccata, and on the fuckers of the dwarf Elder, and in fpring on various herbs which grow 

 in the fandy foil; thefe, like the Mountain Hare, they rollect, in autumn, into heaps for winter pro- 

 vifion. This is a very nimble animal, which is fcarcely capable of being tamed : It is preyed on by 

 various fpecies of the weafel tribe, by the Manul cat, by hawks of different kinds, woodpeckers, and 

 owls : It differs from the Calling and Mountain Hares chiefly in fize, being about fm. inches and a 

 half long; the female weighs about four ounces, and the male about feven; from the Calling Hare, 

 which it molt refembles, it differs in being of a much paler colour,' which is uniform the whole year, 

 in having ftr'onger leg 1 ;, and by the figure and dufky colour of the cars : The fur is intermixed with 



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