MAMMALIA. 217 
[68.] 1. Leeus Americanus. (Erxlebein.) The American Hare. 
Genus. Lepus. Linn. 
Liévre, (Quentonmalisia.) Sacarp-Turopat, Canada, p. 747. An. 1636. 
Hare, Hedge-coney. Lawson, p. 122. Catrssy, App., xxviii. 
Rabbit. Smrru, Voy., vol. i.p. 156. An. 1748. 
American Hare. Kata, Travels, vol. i. p. 1053 vol. ii. p. 45. 
Lepus Americanus. ERxLEBEIN, Syst., An. 1777. 
Lepus Hudsonius. Patuas, Glires, p. 30. An. 1778. 
American Hare. ForstxER, Phil. Trans., vol. lxii.p. 376. Pennant, Arct. Zool., vol. i. p. 90. HEARNE, 
Journ., p. 384. 
Lepus Americanus. Sasine, Franklin’s Journ., p. 664. Ricwarpson, Append. Parry’s Second Voy., p. 324. 
Haran, Fauna, p. 193. 
The American Hare. Gopman, Nat. Hist., vol. ii. p. 157. 
Wawpoos. Cree Inprans. Kah. CHEPEWYANS. 
Rabbit. Europran REsIpENTS aT HupDson’s Bay. 
Lelapin. Frencu CANADIANS. 
This is a common animal, in the woody districts of North America, from one 
extremity of the continent to the other. It abounds in Mackenzie’s River as high 
as the sixty-eighth parallel of latitude*; but on the barren grounds to the eastward 
of the Coppermine, and on the extensive plains or prairies through which the 
Missouri and Saskatchewan flow, it is replaced by other and larger species. 
The American Hare does not burrow. In the northern districts it resides 
mostly in willow thickets, or in woods where willows or dwarf birch constitute 
much of the underwood. ‘The bark of the willow forms a great part of its food 
in the winter, but in the summer it eats grass and other vegetables, It is reported 
to do much damage in cultivated districts, to fields of cabbage or turnips. In the 
_fur countries, few are killed in the summer, because the natives can then procure 
abundance of water-fowl and game of various kinds. In the winter, however, 
they are more sought after, and in the Hare-Indian country, on the banks of the 
Mackenzie, where larger animals are scarce during that season, they constitute 
the chief food of the natives. They are principally taken in snares set in the paths 
that they make through the snow, and fixed to a pole which springs up when the 
noose is drawn, care being taken to obstruct their passage on one side of the 
noose by a small hedge of branches. To prevent them from cutting the snare 
* From a clerical error in the appendix to Capt. Franklin’s Narrative, it is stated that the American hare does not 
exist “further north than Carlton-house.” It should have been ‘‘ further north than Fort Enterprise.” 
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