OR, PLAIN 



entangled, and lays them in 

 different places, especially by the 

 sides of highways, in the furrows, 

 under the herbage or brush- 

 wood, where they sometimes lie 

 two or three days ; but he knows 

 perfectly where to find them 

 when he is in need. He hunts 

 the young hares in the plains, 

 seizes old ones in their seats, 

 digs out the rabbits in the 

 warrens, discovers the nests of 

 partridges and quails, seizes the 

 mother on the eggs, and destroys 

 a vast quantity of game. He 

 is exceedingly voracious, and 

 when other food fails him, makes 

 war against rats, fieid-mice, 

 serpents, lizards, and toads. Of 

 these he destroys vast numbers, 

 and this is the only service that 

 he appears to do to mankind. 



In noticing the marked difference between 

 the external ears of the hare and the fox, we 

 should be impressed with this fact, that the 

 ears of beasts of prey, such as lions, tigers, 

 wolves, foxes, &c, have their trumpet part, or 

 concavity, standing forwards, to seize the sounds 

 which are before them ; viz., the sounds of the 

 animals which they pursue or watch The 

 ears of animals of flight are turned backwards, 

 to give notice of the approach of their enemy 

 from behind, whence he may steal upon them 

 unseen. 



The timidity of the hare is 

 known to every one, and its 

 prominent ears are calculated to 

 catch the most distant sounds. 

 The eyes are so prominent, as to 

 enable the animal to see both 

 before and behind. 



The hare feeds in the even- 

 ings, and sleeps in his form 

 during the day ; and as he gene- 

 rally lies on the ground, he has 

 the feet protected, both above 

 and below, with a thick covering 

 of hair. On a moonlight evening, 

 many of them may frequently 

 be seen sporting together, leap- 



teaching. 257 



ing about and pursuing each 

 other : but the least noise alarms 

 them, and they then scamper off, 

 each in a different direction. 

 Their pace is a kind of gallop, 

 or quick succession of leaps ; 

 and they are extremely swiff, 

 particularly in ascending higher 

 grounds, to which, when pur- 

 sued, they generally have re- 

 course : here their large and 

 strong hind legs are of singular 

 use to them. In northern re- 

 gions, where, on descent of the 

 winter's snow, they would, were 

 their summer fur to remain, be 

 rendered particularly conspi- 

 cuous to animals of prey, they 

 change in the autumn their 

 yellow grey dress, for one 

 perfectly white ; and are thus 

 enabled, in a great measure, 

 to elude their enemies. 



In more temperate regions, 

 they choose in winter a form 

 exposed to the south, to obtain 

 all the possible warmth of that 

 season : and in summer, when 

 they are desirous of shunning 

 the hot rays of the sun, they 

 change this for one with a 

 northerly aspect : but in both 

 cases they have the instinct of 

 generally fixing upon a place 

 where the immediately ntr- 

 rounding objects are nearly 

 the colour of their own bodies. 



In one "hare that a gentleman watched, ;.s 

 soon as the dogs were heard, though at the 

 distance of nearly a mile, she rose from lar 

 form, swam across a rivulet, then lay down 

 among the bushes on the other side, and by 

 this means evaded the scent of the hounds. 

 When a hare has been chased for a considerable 

 length of time, she will sometimes push another 

 from its seat, and lie down there herself. 

 When hard pressed, she will mingle with a 

 flock of sheep, run up an old wall, and conceal 

 herself among the grass on the top of it, or 

 cross a river several times at small distances. 

 She never runs in a line directly forward, but 



