I 
342 VERTEBRATA. 
from the hills of the mainland toward the sea-side, one of which from time to time left its com- 
panion, and proceeding to the very edge of the water, stopped there a minute or two, and then 
returned to its mate. The tide was rising, and after waiting some time, one of them, exactly at 
high water, took to the sea, and swam rapidly over in a straight line to the opposite projecting 
point of land. The observer on this occasion, who was near the spot, but remained unperceived 
by the hares, had no doubt they were of different sexes, and that it was the male that swam 
across the water, as he had probably done many times before. It was remarkable that the hares 
remained on the shore nearly half an hour, one of them occasionally examining, as it would seem, 
the state of the current, and ultimately taking to the sea at that precise period of the tide called 
slack-water, when the passage across could be effected without being carried by the force of the 
stream either above or below the desired point of landing. The other hare then cantered back 
to the hills." • 
Of the common hare there are sometimes accidental varieties; there is a specimen of one of 
these in the museum of the Zoological Society of London. Albinos are not uncommon. All at- 
tempts to promote a breed between the hare and rabbit appear to have been hitherto fruitless. 
The hare is rarely found in very hilly or mountainous situations; neither is it often found in 
places much exposed to the wind, especially when it blows from the north or south ; its favorite 
residence being in rich and somewhat dry and fiat grounds. The hare-finders and shepherds re- 
mark that the hares on the downs have a variety of seats, which they shift from time to time, as 
the weather directs, generally ascending to the more elevated grounds when rain prevails. Their 
food consists of various vegetables, but they seem to prefer those of a milky, succulent quality, 
and to be very partial to pinks, carnations, parsley, birch, and laburnum. They Avill prey on the 
bark of almost every tree during winter, and they are often very injurious to young plantations. 
Their cry, which has been compared to that of an infant, is seldom heard, except in cases of dis- 
tress or surprise. They are taken in some countries by a call imitative of that between the male 
and female. 
The hare is naturally of a gentle disposition, although not very susceptible of strong attach- 
ment, and when taken young, may be tamed with little difficulty. Shy and timid as it undoiTbt- 
edly is in its native haunts, yet, when domesticated, it often assumes a forward, and even a 
petulent demeanor, as has been finely exemplified by CoAvper in his account of three which he 
watched himself. The names he gave them were Puss, Tiney, and Bess. Tiney was a reserved 
and surly hare; Bess, Avho was a hare of great humor and drollery, died young. "Puss grew 
presently familiar, would leap into my lap, raise himself upon his hinder feet, and bite the hair 
from my temples. He would suffer me to take him up and carry him about in my arms, and 
has more than once fallen fast asleep upon my knee. He was ill three days, during which time 
I nursed him, kept him apart from his fellows that they might not molest him, — for, like many 
other wild animals, they persecute one of their own species that is sick, — and by constant care, 
and trying him with a variety of herbs, restored him to perfect health. No creature could be 
more grateful than my patient after his recovery, a sentiment which he most significantly ex- 
pressed by licking my hand, first the back of it, then the palm, then every finger separately, then 
between all the fingers, as if anxious to leave no part of it unsaluted; a ceremony which he never 
performed but once again upon a similar occasion. 
"Finding him extremely tractable, I made it my custom to carry him always after breakfast 
into the garden, where he hid himself generally under the leaves of a cucumber vine, sleeping or 
chewing the cud, till evening; in the leaves also of that vine he found a favorite repast. I had 
not long habituated him to this taste of liberty, before he began to be impatient for the time 
when he might enjoy it. He would invite me to the garden by drumming upon my knee, and 
by a look of such expression as it was not possible to misinterpret. If this rhetoric did not im- 
mediately succeed, he Avould take the skirt of 7ny coat between his teeth and pull at it with all 
his force. Thus Puss might be said to be perfectly tamed, the shyness of his nature was done 
away, and, on the whole, it was visible by many symptoms, which I have not room to enumerate, 
that he was happier in human society than when shut up with his natural companions." 
As an article of food, the flesh of the hare has been in high esteem from very remote antiquity ; 
