30^ MAMMALIA. 



bordering many of tlie lakes and beaver meadows.* At all times 

 of the year it inhabits the burnt districts that are strewn with 

 charred logs and grown over with l)lackberry bushes, studded here 

 and there with saplings of the poplar, birch, cherr\', and shad-bush. 



It does not inhabit l)urrows, nor take refuge in hollow trees, like 

 the gray rabbit, 1)ut seeks teinporary shelter under a log, tree-top, 

 young evergreen, or other covert where it is not likely to be dis- 

 turbed. Here it spends the greater part of the day, feeding chiefly 

 by night. It follows certain definite routes with such frequency 

 that regular runwaxs are formed. In these it is often snared. 



About the borders of the Wilderness the X'arying Hare is a 

 favorite object of the chase. It is hunted with hounds, durin^- the 

 early winter months, and is shot while circling through the swamps, 

 or crossing from hill to hill in the burnt districts. Audubon and 

 Bachman state that its Hesh is not good eating, to which opinion 

 I take exception, for, having eaten several dozens of them, I am 

 prepared to pronounce them tender anel well-flqvored. When 

 properly cooked they certainly constitute an excellent article of diet. 

 The above-mentioned authors observe : •' This species in the 

 beginning of winter varies from three to six and a half pounds, but 

 we consider five and a half pounds to be an average weio-ht of a 

 full-grown animal in good condition." f In the Adirondack reo-ion 

 a five-pound Hare is exceptionally large, the adults averaging not 

 more than four and a half pounds (2,041 grammes) in wei^-ht. 



I have never found the nest, but it is doubtless placed under a 

 brush heap, or in some other equall)- secure co^•ert. From four to 

 six young are produced at a birth, four being the usual number. 

 They are born late in May. There may be two litters in a season, 

 but I have no proof of it. This species has many enemies, among 



* In my journal of a snow-shoe tramp in the AiHrondacks, in January, 1S83, I find the followintr 

 entry concerning this species : " Scarcely a track seen except about the borders of lakes and beaver 

 meadows. Very common near Big Otter Lake, and tolerably so at Little Safford Lake and in a 

 swamp west of Independence Lake ; also between l!ig Moose and Second Lake of North Branch 

 and near the Forj^e." 



f Quadrupeds of North America, Vol. I, 1846, p. 96. 



