1-847. I The Hispid Hare of the Saul forest. ,">7;> 



stately and valuable timber tree (Sliorea robusta) throughout the tract 

 in question, except near the sea, where it is replaced by the Teak, which 

 may be aptly denominated the pelagic saul. 



This primeval forest is the peculiar and exclusive habitat of the 

 Hispid Hare, a species that never ventures into the open plains on the 

 one hand, or into the mountains on the other ; and hence it is so little 

 known, deep cover and deadly malaria contributing alike to its happy 

 obscurity. As the black-necked Hare or Nigricollis is the single spe- 

 cies of th^ Deccan, and the Red tail Ruficaudata of Hindosthan and 

 Bengal, so is the Hispid of the vast sub-Himalayan forest ; and it is 

 remarkable that the mountains beyond the forest, even up to the per- 

 petual snows, have no peculiar species, the Red tail of the plains being 

 alone found there. Two specimens only of the Hispid Hare are yet on 

 record.* These were obtained respectively on the banks of the Tista 

 and in Assam. My two were got near the Cosi, and recently. Previ- 

 ously I had never obtained a specimen, though I have often heard of 

 and even seen the animal as far west as the Gandac, and information 

 on which I can rely convinces me that the species extends, within the 

 saul forest, as far westerly as Gorakpur, and as far east and south as 

 Assam and Tipperah. The Hispid Hare is a habitual burrower, like the 

 Rabbit ; but, unlike that species, it is not gregarious, and affects deep 

 cover, the pair dwelling together, but apart from their fellows, in sub- 

 terranean abodes of their own excavation, and having, it is supposed, 

 two or three broods in the year, consisting of one or two young each- 

 time. Less highly endowed with the senses of seeing and hearing, 

 than the common hare or rabbit, and gifted with speed far inferior to- 

 that of the former or even of the latter species, the Hispid Hare is 

 dependant for safety upon the double concealment afforded by the 

 heavy undergrowth of the forest and by its own burrow, and accordingly 

 it never quits the former shelter, and seldom wanders far from the 

 latter, whilst the harsh hair of its coat affords it an appropriate and 

 unique protection against continual necessary contact with the huge and 

 serrated grasses, reeds and shrubs in the midst of which it dwells, and 

 dwells so securely that it is seldom or never seen even by the natives,, 

 save for a short period after the great annual clearance of the Tarai by 

 fire. The Meeches, to whom I am indebted for my specimens, call the* 

 ' Sporting Magazine,. August, 1R34. Asiatic Journal No. KiO of 1H45. 



