78 



QUADRUPEDS. 



beneath ; and the feet are covered with hair even at the bot- 

 tom. The animal inhabits all parts of Europe ; most parts 

 of Asia, Japan, Ceylon, Egypt, and Barbary. It is a very 

 watchful, timid animal, always lean, and runs swifter up hill 

 than on even ground ,• and hence, when started, it endeavours 

 to run up hill. It frequently saves itself and escapes by 

 various artful doublings. It lies in its seat all day, and feeds 

 by night, and returns to its seat or nest among bushes or long- 

 grass by the same road it left it ; it does not pair. The urine 

 is fetid. The rutting season is in February and March, when 

 the male pursues the female by the sagacity of its nose ; they 

 breed often in the year — go with young thirty or thirty-one 

 days, and bring forth three or four at a time ; they admit the 

 male during the time of their gestation, and, as they are very 

 lascivious, they have frequent superfetations. The male and 

 female are very liable to be mistaken for one another. The 

 mother suckles her young about twenty days. The fur is of 

 great use in the manufacture of hats. They are very subject 

 to fleas. The animal is about two feet in length, and weights 

 eight to nine pounds, rarely twelve. Hares have neither eye- 

 Hds nor eye-lashes, but a nictating membrane, which remains 

 open while the animal sleeps ; their sight appears to be im- 

 perfect, but they have an acute sense of hearing, and enor- 

 mous ears in proportion to the size of their bodies. They move 

 these long ears with great facility, and employ them as a 

 rudder to direct their course, which is so rapid that they out- 

 strip all other animals. The period of their natural life is 

 said to be about seven years, and the males live longer than 

 the females ; they pass their days in solitude and silence, fre- 

 quently in fear and trembling, as a falling leaf is sufficient to 

 alarm them ; their voice is never heard but when they are 

 wounded or seized, and then it is a sharp, loud cry, somewhat 

 resembling the human voice. They are easily tamed, but 

 never become thoroughly domesticated, always regaining their 

 liberty when opportunity offers. They have been trained to 

 beat a drum, and to perform gestures in cadence. They pos- 

 sess sufficient instinct for their own preservation, and show 

 much sagacity in escaping from their enemies : in this re- 



