THE HARE. 



77 



from their repose, and begin to prowl. The eyes are sharp 

 and piercing, the ears small, and the senses of sight, smell, 

 and hearing are very acute. The sub-caudal glands secrete 

 a fluid of very unplea^nt odour. It makes a most vigorous 

 resistance when attacked by a dog or man, and will defend 

 itself to the last. 



In the neighbourhood of a farm-yard, the polecat is more 

 mischievous than the fox : whole broods of chickens are often 

 destroyed in a single night, and the bodies left on the spot. 

 Ten ducks and as many large turkeys have been known to 

 be destroyed in a single night separately. It finds access to 

 the poultry house by scraping a passage below the walls or 

 the threshold of the door. Winter is the time of its haunt- 

 ing the farm-yard; in summer, it resorts to plantations, 

 woods, and preserves of game, where it lives on leverets, 

 young partridges and pheasants, and on eggs. It is easiest 

 destroyed by means of baited traps and gins. 



3. The " Hare " is a small quadruped, and belongs to 

 the class Mammalia; order Rodentia and Saltigrada; and 

 family Hemiclaviculata, or provided with imperfect collar 

 bones. The animals of this genus have two fore-teeth in 

 each jaw ; in the upper jaw is a second inner row of fore- 

 teeth, considerably smaller than the outer or primaries ; the 

 fore-feet have each five, and the hind feet four, toes. These 

 animals are very timid ; they live on vegetable food ; they 

 use the hind feet in walking as far as the heel, running by a 

 kind of leaps, or repeated bounds. They have either exceed- 

 ingly short tails, named " scuts," or none at all. 



The hare is the " Lepus" of the Romans, by whom the 

 flesh was held in high esteem. The ancient Britons did not 

 use it. The Lepus timidus," or the common hare, has a 

 very short tail, the ears longer than the head, and black at 

 the ends. The eyes are very large and prominent ; the chin 

 is white, and the whiskers are very long ; the hair and fur on 

 its face, back, and sides, is white at the bottom, black in the 

 middle, and tipt with tawny red ; the throat and breast are 

 red, and the belly white ; the tail is black above, and white 



